Despicably Me(title subject to change)
by Nova Bucker
Summary: With a plot to get back on top, espionage, mysteries and a crash-course in parenthood, a selfish man may just find happiness in the most unlikely of places, with all the complications it entails. Habits are hard to break, life is hard, and not everyone is cut out for parenthood. Children are resilient things, but personal demons never really go away and the world... FULL SUM INSIDE
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I owned Despicable Me or any of its characters, do you think I'd be here? (cries)

Pairing/s: None until I say otherwise.

Summary: Gru had a plan, to steal the moon. He did so, but lost the moon, and gained three daughters. Rewind, would things have turned out the same if he'd gotten _four_ girls instead? Wait a minute, what was that about a teenager? Would things still turn out happily ever after? How _would _Gru deal with a streetwise, teenage girl? (Basically, Despicable Me, revamped with more characters and plot explanations)

A/N: Don't worry, I'll try to not have my OC take over this fanfic. I just had a plot bunny attack that simply would not go AWAY! So here I am writing yet ANOTHER fanfic that I'll have on my to-do list for the rest of eternity until I finish it. So here it is. By the by, Despicable Me was an awesome movie, if given the choice, I wouldn't change any of it, except for maybe adding extra Gru – The Girls interaction/bonding scenes… But that's just the mushy fangirl in me talking… -_-;

**WARNINGS: **This fic is RATED T! There will be implications of adult situations/ideas in prologue and very, very future chapters(far away), I will tell you now, I do not do EXPLICIT sexual anything when writing! I'll imply, or say it happened, that's it! I do explicit violence and crass language and/or sexual humor, that's as far as I go.

**NOTE:** Okay, I'm weird, I just decided to edit this now so I don't have to do it later… Yeah, weird…

**ANOTHER NOTE(update):** Grammatical errors(the ones I could find) have been fixed. I checked for spelling errors and such, please notify me if anyone finds more.

* * *

Prologue

_Somewhere in Nebraska…_

Rain pelted the earth, thoroughly soaking the world below without relent.

A little girl, her was name of no importance to anyone, not anymore at least. She walked along a long, winding highway in the middle of nowhere.

She had a rather tiny, scrawny, and short stature for a nine year old, the girl's short black hair and singly visible, bright blue eye contrasting heavily against her too-pale complexion. A huge black hoodie, nearly eighteen sizes too big for her, perched precariously on her bony shoulders, hanging heavy on her as it soaked up the rain like a sponge. It was plain black in color, and was split down the front with a tarnished, metal zipper. In its back were three, messy holes lined with browning blood, not her own though.

She had a bag slung over her shoulder, a messenger's bag that seemed far too heavy for such a tiny child to carry, its contents, unknown.

The right side of her face lay half covered beneath bandages, no longer a pristine white, but a disgusting shade of brown. It was the color of dried blood, her blood.

The bandages were soon soaked through as the hoodie became completely saturated to maximum capacity. Groaning in annoyance, the small girl slipped the offending cloth off her face and dropped it by the roadside.

Her most prominent feature? On the right side of her face lay fresh, scabbed over gashes, soon to be scars, and a closed eyelid with several tiny stitches imbedded to prevent the eyelid from splitting. Two diagonal cuts leading downward, now scabbed over, ran from just over the upper-left part of the bridge of her nose, then it went over her forehead and disappeared beneath her hairline. Two angry, slightly jagged, cuts less than half an inch apart and parallel to each other, ran from the height of her mid-forehead; crossing with the other, much shorter-looking cut; running down over her eyebrow and over her closed eyelid, then down her cheek. Now, _those_ cuts still had stitches on them, having barely even begun to scab over.

Despite the pain in her chest, the bloody, not-even-dime-sized hole in her chest, was only hours old. Strips of a bloody t-shirt had been used as bandages, just like big brother had showed her once...

It was as if the road would never end, that the rain wouldn't stop 'til it drowned the world like in the Noah's Ark story her brother had told her…

Soon her muscles ached with exhaustion not the least bit unfamiliar to her, she continued to walk, even as her bag and hoodie weighed her down… She walked until the protest of her muscles, the emptiness of her stomach, and the pain of her body just faded into an all-encompassing numbness…

It had finally just occurred hit her, just a few hours ago, she'd lost… Everything…

Not that she'd had much to start with…

She had always known that her Mother had always seen her as disappointment, a failure in every way possible, but… The little girl had never thought her Mother would've gone _this _far…

What's worse was that, now? She didn't even have her big brother to help and protect her, hell, the eighteen year old had never even been _sane_. But at least he had always watched out for her… But now the little girl realized that she was truly and utterly, _alone_.

Now here she was, injured, alone, and with nowhere to go...

What was she to do now?

Honestly? She had no idea. So she kept walking…

And walking…

And walking…

The scenery, blurred by the heavy rain as it was, was rather barren. Not a lot of trees, barely any really, and sparse bushes scattered across the earth, with tall grasses almost as far as the eye could see.

It had been long since when the sky had darkened further, indicating the night's arrival. It had slowed her down, forcing her to walk more slowly, as she had already had to climb out of the roadside ditch several times…

She was so tired, but… She knew she couldn't stop, not yet at least… The nine-year old knew that she had never been more glad when she spotted that old road sign, which indicated a nearby city about half a mile ahead…

The nine-year old girl continued in stubborn defiance as her muscles began to come out of their semi-numb state, and began to burn painfully once more. None the less, she trudged onward.

She finally came to a bridge, it was old, and ran over a wide river that looked deeper than any pool could ever be. The nine-year old ignored it roar of thunder as it cracked overhead as she crossed the empty bridge, which was thankfully devoid of cars, and entered the city…

Not that it was much though, truth be told the place was rather rundown. Peeling paint, broken signs, and more graffiti on the walls than the total flea population littered the surrounding buildings around her almost as far as the eye could see.

The nine-year old shivered violently, her cold, rain-soaked clothes had done her no good other than shield her for a mere half hour or so before becoming nothing but heavy weights on her back.

Cold, hungry and exhausted, the girl forced her aching legs to carry her forward in search of shelter…

Plodding her way onto a small street, she plodded forward almost mechanically, her eyes searching her surroundings tiredly for anything, anyplace that could offer her safety…

Then she spotted it, a small, trashy-looking canopy-type structure with a back wall, two sidewalls and an open front, probably built from pieces taken from a junkyard. But it was shelter, and that was all that mattered to the small girl as she dashed beneath its small, metal roof for safety.

"Oi, what's a brat doin' on our turf Butch?" A rough voice came from out of seemingly nowhere. The child's head jerked violently towards the voice's source…

Only to be greeted by the sight of at least four, _mean_ looking teenagers, or adults, or something in between.

"Don' know Chad," Said the taller, blonde one, "but 'm bored. Wanna have s'me fun guys?"

"Yeah man, it's been a long t'me since we had a good playthin'." The third once sniggered, leering with hungry, disgusting eyes at the small girl.

A sick feeling settled in the child's stomach, young as she was, exposure to her Mother's lifestyle, her three bullies for brothers, and her oldest brother's view on the world, she had some idea of what the teens were talking about, and she did not want to stick around to gain life experience in the matter!

The nine-year old did the one thing that came to mind, while the older boys were leering and bantering for God knows why, she had gotten a head start. Clutching her bag and jacket tight to her body so it wouldn't drag in the space behind her.

Despite her obvious exhaustion , her body was high on fear and adrenaline now, and her mind had focused on nothing but hastening her escape from her pursuers. As she ran through small alleyways and ran down a street full of closed stores, she looked for one, just one store she could hide in… Even it was a pot store or something…

'_There!'_ She'd seen it, a small convenience store at the end of the street on the corner. With desperate speed, she sprinted and dashed her way straight into the store...

Upon entering she noticed that there were no customers… Then she saw the cashier lady, a young woman with brown hair and green eyes, somewhere in her early twenties. Nervously, the small girl took a deep breath and tried to recall everything about the English language her big brother had taught her, which was actually quite limited compared to a born-American's vocabulary… Her native language _was_ Czech after all…

"Dáma?" She said hurriedly, the little girl's eldest brother had always stressed the importance of enunciation, making her say English words repeatedly for hours on end 'til she'd gotten them right. But despite this, she was not comfortable with speaking to people in English. "Někteří kluci jsou pronásleduje mě, mohl byste prosím skrýt mě?"Read phonetically Dictionary - View detailed dictionary

**noun **

Paní

Dáma

Slečna

Unfortunately, she had been in such a hurry, that what she meant to come out in English, came out in Czech instead.

The nine-year old had attempted to look cute, but the ugly cuts on her face made little chance of _that_ happening.

The woman looked at the little girl, a flash of pity crossing her features. The nine-year old, through practice due to years of living with her Mother, resisted the urge to scowl. She didn't like pity, though she didn't understand half of what the woman had said, the nine-year old couldn't stand being pitied.

Her eldest brother had always said that being pitied was demeaning.

With a look of panicked fear, the woman's movements had taken on a more panicked and jerky manner. As if seeing something that frightened her, through the windows or something…

The young woman literally started to shove the small girl into the back room, closing the door quickly with a forefinger raised across the middle of her lips as an indication for the child to stay silent.

A small clink indicated the dropping of a set of keys. There on the floor lays a set of several keys of different designs… The nine-year old moved forward to retrieve them, but as she grasped them she heard voices from the other side of the almost closed door.

The little girl crept toward the door to listen…

"Well, hey there sweet thing." It was one of the boys from before, "nice rack," The one-eyed child could practically _hear_ the leer in his voice, "you seen a small brat run by here? 'Bought yay high, black hair, ugly lookin' mug?"

"No, can't say that I have," The shopkeeper girl answered stoically, "now if you don't wanna buy anything, I suggest you get outta here."

"Aw," said the second teen, "don't be like that sweet cheeks…"

"And he _does_ mean 'sweet cheeks'." Sniggered the third teenager.

"Now," started Teenager One, as the black-haired child had mentally dubbed him, "I know yer lyin' ya little bitch." The eavesdropping child could hear something, the near silent clicking that sounded so familiar… What was it?

_The sound of a gun being cocked._

The nine-year old inched her way backwards as the conversation continued, before her elbow bumped into a solid wall behind her…

"Now yer gonna tell me where that little brat went," Teenager One hissed dangerously, "or I'll blow yer brains tah bits."

"Or we could screw 'er boss." Said Teenager Three with an almost sickeningly gleeful tone.

The nine-year old turned around, to see that she hadn't backed into a wall, but a locked glass case. A locked, glass case, containing a single shotgun. An old-fashioned, double-barreled, break-action shotgun to be precise…

With slightly trembling fingers, the girl gripped the first key and tried it in the case's lock. She'd decided what needed to be done, Big Brother had always told her that lives were but short specks in history. He'd always said that life was nothing but a big game board with no rules, that everything goes.

The first key failed, so she tried the second key…

"Get the hell outta my store." The shopkeeper girl spat bitterly.

That key failed too, so the nine-year old tried another one…

"Jus' tell us, then we'll go easy on yah." Teenager 4 said with a slight sneer in his voice.

Big Brother always said to watch out for number one, yourself. Didn't that woman know that she was gonna die?

The fourth key failed to be the correct choice, so the child tried a fifth key on the ring…

"Damn you! You always give us trouble," A dull smack was heard, then a scuffling, and a dull thud, but the child knew what it was, it was the sound of being beamed with the butt-end of a gun. She knew the sound all too well...

The fifth key failed too… Last one…

"So we'll just show ya why ya shouldn't say no to us…" A muffled shouting could be heard, scuffling and some more hitting…

The teens sniggered perversely…

The child pried the case open and grasped the shotgun, she'd only fired one once, and that was with her Big Brother helping her…

It was a break-action shotgun as the nine-year old had previously noted, quietly, she opened the gun, and searched in the darkness of the back room for the shells…

More muffled shouting, some sort of grunting…

The small child shuddered in repulsion, she wasn't naïve, she knew what was going on, disgusting, horrible things…

Slowly, she let her wet jacket slid to the floor, revealing her still soaked shorts and tatty blue, bloodied t-shirt. The gun was loaded, and she jammed a couple more shotgun shells into her pocket…

She crept forward silently, sliding the door open ever so slightly, just to let her thin frame through. Gripping the gun, she silently spied the teenagers from behind the counter, near to the floor…

'_Ew.'_ Was her only thought, as she felt remembered that her _own _life was at stake here.

As far as she was concerned, the only one who gave a damn about her was dead, and these guys were standing between her and survival…

Her Big Brother's words echoed throughout her mind…

"_Survival of the fittest my dear, anything goes…"_

Slowly she came out of her kneeling position, to a crouching one, like a coiling snake, ready to strike.

"_Anything goes…"_

She cocked the gun in her hands, it was rather heavy for her, but she rested it against her shoulder still. Then she stood up, steeling her resolve as she abandoned the safety provided by the counter.

"_But all it really comes down to…"_

"What the-?" Teenager Two had his eyes open, as the one-eyed girl took aim, her finger steady on the shotgun's trigger even as her arms protested at carrying such weight…

"_Is how badly…"_

She pulled the trigger…

"_How badly do you want to live?"_

**BANG!**

The resounding shot rang throughout the store, yet bled into the sounds of roaring thunder. The recoil was terrible, as the butt of the gun seemed to jack-knife into her bony shoulder…

"Oh shit!" It was Teenager Three.

"_How badly do you want__to __**fucking**__ live?"_

The little girl stepped forward into the light, suddenly in a full-dash. Without enough time to reload the gun, she did the next best thing… She gripped the gunpoint end and swung it like a bat…

"_How far will you go for it?"_

It made contact with the surprised rapist's head… The one with the gun, Teenager One… Teenager Three still stared at the bleeding bodies of his two fallen 'pals'… They had been in close enough proximity to each other and the floor, that when the girl had fired, the bullets had gone straight through the first one's head and right into the second's.

Wasting no time, the nine-year old swung again.

"_How hard will you fight for that right?"_

Teenager Three seemed to get over the shock quickly as he drew a long type of knife the girl didn't recognize, but out of the corner of her eye she saw him.

Teenager One was so dazed that, he'd lost grip on his handgun, a beat-up Glock 17.

She'd seen it, and grabbed it as she spun around…

"_How hard and long will you claw for it?"_

The man's knife was poised for her small skull with the way he ran, she did what came naturally when living with her Mother…

She pulled the trigger…

"_What will you do for it?"_

**BANG!**

She took a leaping step back, letting the man fall with an agonized scream almost completely drowned out as thunder and rain raged outside the store.

Setting the gun on the high counter, she returned her left hand to assisting her right in holding the shotgun as a bat. She lifted it again, her muscles protesting as her adrenaline rush had started to ebb…

"_How much would you give up for it?"_

Unable to bear the complete weight of lifting the shotgun above her head, she had settled for more of a diagonal sweep… As she brought it down upon the male's skull, once, twice…

"_How many bodies will you step over?"_

Three times…

"_How many will you drag down?"_

Four times, five…

"_Will you steal for it?"_

Six… Then she lost count as her muscles simply gave into a litany of tired, but brutal downward swings…

"_Will you lie for it?"_

When she had finally stopped, there was nothing of his face recognizable but the bloody mess left behind… His body had long stopped writhing, his throat now silent…

A shifting noise…

The nine-year old spun around, to the furious Teenager One as he began to stand up…

With a speed born of cold desperation, she dashed for the gun she'd set on the counter. Using her right hand to bring the bloodied butt-end of the shotgun to connect sharply with his shins…

Teenager One looked up sharply, only to stare down the end of the gun barrel, pointed right, between, his, eyes…

"_Would you kill for it too?"_

He was about to make a grab for it, but as his hands twitched, the one-eyed girl knew better…

"_What rules shall you break?"_

She pulled the trigger...

"_Whose lives shall you take?"_

**BANG!**

Then he lay there, dead.

Blood pouring profusely out of their still bodies, they lay there on that linoleum floor, still.

Upon closer inspection, the nine-year old realized that the first two had had their skulls caved in due to the close proximity of the shotgun… Not just caved in even, the one whom the child had aimed for, his skull had almost literally lost its top, leaving nothing but what looked like an uneven, bloody soup bowl with its contents strewn out on the floor.

But as far as the nine-year old was concerned, the bottom line was: those threats were dead. Plain and simple.

'_As all threats should be.'_ The girl tried to think logically to herself, as she went to check in the shop-girl lady… Only to find that she was dead as well.

Then the nine-year old realized that, in surprise, one of the attackers had shot her through the head. Killing the poor woman…

Something in the little girl felt… A little bit sad… But then she realized that now was not the time… She had to take what she needed and leave as quickly as she could…

Somehow, she knew that killing them should have bothered her… But, through her exhaustion and the aches and pains of her body, she just couldn't find it in herself to give a damn…

"_How much of your soul will you let die?"_ Her brother's voice seemed to echo in her head ominously.

The girl shook her head in efforts to focus on the task at hand.

Avoiding the growing pool of pungent, sticky, metallic-smelling blood, the girl found that snatching a backpack off the rack was easy, and so was stuffing several cans of canned ravioli, spam, sardines and other snack foods into the bag along with some fruit. Slowly, she began transferred the contents of her discarded messengers' bag into the backpack as well…

A swiss army knife, a flashlight, and a small canteen… Then there it was, her Big Brother's prized possession, a classic Italian switchblade knife. It's blade well-kept and sharp, with its faded blue handle glinting like a promise.

The small girl sighed as she put it away… The moved onto the cash register, realized that the key was around the dead shop-girls neck, she pulled it off of the corpse and used it to open the register… Rubbing her tired eyes, she stuffed the bills into a small ziplock bag she'd retrieved from one of the store shelves…

Moving on, she found another back room, with screen showing the whole store…

'_Cameras…'_ The nine-year old realized.

She did the only sensible thing that came to mind, she rummaged around, until she found the security tape. Then, she proceeded to smash it, and rip the film out of the cassette, destroying the security video beyond all repair.

Afterwards, she went to pick up her still wet, but drying, jacket and folded it neatly, before placing it in her new backpack. She went and grabbed a toothbrush and toothpaste from the shelf, along with a plastic comb, a small first aid kit and a can-opener and threw them in the pack as well.

Spotting a selection of colored beanies, the nine-year old girl chose a plain black one, and pulled on a bandana to wrap around her head, covering the scarred side of her face. As well as putting on a dry 'Hello Kitty' t-shirt from off a rack, unfortunately, there were no shorts her size. During this, she checked the bullet wound that stung her chest, and re-bandaged it almost mechanically.

After she finished stuffing her bag with the light, but much needed necessities, the nine-year old headed for the door…

The girl had put on a plastic rain poncho from the store shelves as well ditching the shotgun, it was simply too heavy. But after searching Teenager Two's body, she found a small, 9mm pistol, she put it on safety and stashed it her bag, avoiding the ever-enlarging blood puddle as much as her small stature would allow.

The little girl looked back at her bloody handiwork with a numb feeling in her chest… Disappointment made her stomach clench slightly, there was no time to rest, not now…

'_A few days ago,'_ she thought emptily, _'I would've felt a little sad, and Mother would yell at me for being a sloppy shot.'_

The rain and wind didn't let up outside, howling and roaring like and explosion.

'_A few days ago,'_ the one-eyed child remembered, _'I had my Big Brother to protect me, and a roof over my head…' _

She walked out into the rain, quickly settling for a restless pace, to get as far away from that store as she could…

'_A few days ago, I wasn't on my own,'_ she thought, _'I needed someone to protect me…'_

Thinking back to the corpses that lay dead and bleeding on the linoleum floor of the convenience store, the girl realized, that she didn't need anybody to protect her anymore… She couldn't afford it anyhow…

'_Less than a week ago, I had __**two**__ eyes…'_ The nine-year old thought sadly before taking more steps forward.

'_I don't need to be protected anymore,'_ the nine-year old thought with grim austerity, _'time to grow up.'_

She thought back, of her life up until that point, full of misery coupled with her childish naivety.

'_No more.'_ The child passed a mirror shop… But despite her need to keep going, she stopped for a moment and looked into one of them. _'I can't stop now…'_

Her own eyes, her expression, she hardly recognized it.

All it took was one glance and the girl knew, she'd changed. She wasn't some scared little kid anymore and Big Brother wasn't here to save her from their beastly Mother and other brothers… He wasn't here to give her advice, or tell her in his own way that he cared about what happened to her…

'_No matter,'_ the nine-year old thought to herself, all she could afford right now was taking care of herself.

So she found a bus stop, prepared ten dollars for the bus ride, and waited…

OOOOOOOOOO

The bus came, this time the bus driver looked at her curiously as he gave her several dollars in change. He asked her in English where she was going.

"F- f- far," The nine-year old stuttered out in English, "a- as it g- goes."

"Okay then." The man immediately forgot about her, as she sat down somewhere in the middle of the bus.

Several bus stop and three short naps later, she looked out the window to see the bus passing the city limits…

It said, _'Now Leaving Ripley Corners, Nebraska.'_

As they passed the city limits, the child observed that there were several other passengers on the bus as well. For her own safety she decided to stay quiet…

Staring at the rain that beat down against the bus windows, she saw her face again…

No, she wasn't some scared little kid anymore. That little girl lay dead in a ditch trapped beneath her Big Brother's corpse. She wasn't that little girl anymore, she raised her right hand to absently rub at the recently re-bandaged wound on her chest… Almost hit her heart, missed by who-knows-how- much… And the miracle? She was _alive._

Hell, the nine-year old knew that she should've been dead when the shrapnel had embedded itself in her face and torso, it had cost her an eye, but her Big Brother had saved her. He had went back for her when not even their Mother would.

What could she say about that, really?

"_The past is past, the present's laid before you, and the future's determined by how hard you fight for it."_

'_That little girl is dead,'_ she thought as she stared out the window, _'I'm not what I used to be…'_

She thought of her old name, the one given to her by her _mother_,of all people. But, it wasn't her, not at all…

'_I hate my name,'_ she thought as her ire rose, _'I hate it.'_

"'_Cause it's everything you're not."_

Thinking of the day's events, she felt as if she'd lost something… A piece of herself, being replaced by something else… The girl just couldn't place what it _was_…

With these thoughts, the nine-year old came to the conclusion that she needed a new name for herself. One that was _hers_, one that _she _could give _herself_, something that would fit…

OOOOOOO

_One Month Later…_

Things had went well for a small while since, hitching rides on the back of trains and city bus rides had gotten the young girl across several US states with little trouble apart from losing the gun somewhere between Kansas, Missouri and Indiana.

Unfortunately, luck of any sort never lasts as long as one ever wanted it too. Eventually, her stocked food had run out, and she was strapped for a meal.

When trying to buy herself a sandwich from a café somewhere in Ohio, she had almost been literally accosted by a very nosy woman.

The woman just basically wouldn't leave her alone, never shutting up and putting words in her mouth before the nine-year old girl had even a chance to even attempt to brush her off.

Before she was even aware of what was going on, she had been herded to a police station, with them looking through the lost children files…

'_Hah,' _the girl thought, _'I'm not on your files dimwits.'_

"Could you please tell us where your parents are sweetie?" Asked a female officer in English.

The nine-year old thought fast, what would big Brother say?

"_Lie, lie your lying little ass off and deny, deny, deny!"_

"Ona je mrtvá, aby mě." The little girl was pissed, of course now they'd stick her in the system. Why should she cooperate? Let them try to figure out what the hell she was saying…

"Does anyone here speak Russian?" The lady went back to the other people at their desks…

The little girl felt a little insulted, how come no-one could ever tell that she was speaking Czech? Stupid people…

"Mrs. Riggs." The officer lady pointed to herself emphatically. "Mrs. Riggs."

The woman pointed to the little girl twice…

'_What kind of moron does she take me for?'_ The one-eyed child felt like rolling her eye in annoyance, but decided to play along none the less.

"Ripley." The nine-year old pointed to herself emphatically. She didn't know _why_ she decided to name herself after the city she'd left back in Nebraska. But somehow, it just felt like, it fit... It was hers.

OOOOOOOOO

Several hours later, the lady officer came back, practically herding her to the door.

Standing by a car, was a rather stout and robust woman dressed in pink with a watery smile upon her face. From listening to the two women talk, the nine-year old learned that the fat woman in pink was Miss Hattie, who ran an orphanage.

The newly dubbed Ripley observed the smiling, pink woman and immediately decided that she was a bitch. She reminded Ripley too much of her Mother, only far less attractive and less viper-ish. Still, Ripley could tell that the woman loathed her behind that fake smile, actually the nine-year wouldn't have been surprised to find out that the woman must've loathed children in general.

And in no time Ripley stood before a large building, _'Ms. Hattie's Home for Girls.'_

And with a venomous glare from Miss Hattie, Ripley took her first step into her personal hell…

OOOOOOOO

_One Year Later…_

Ripley was turned ten today, she spent her birthday cramped up in the 'Box of Shame' and the rest of the day stretching out the cricks in her neck.

As so far, in Ripley's opinion, life sucked. The chances of being adopted were nil, for Ripley at least, she'd already created a reputation for being sent back…

Who gave a damn anyway? She was just the terror child no-one could understand, she still refused to speak a word to anyone.

As she retreated to her small cot in the corner of the room, she realized that she had new roommates. Three girls, a two-year old girl with black hair, a five-year old blonde girl, and a seven-year old, bespectacled brunette were resting on their beds…

'_They're adorable,'_ thought Ripley, _'they'll be outta here in no time…'_

"Wait, no Agnes-!" Came the whispered voice of the seven-year old brunette from across the small room.

"Um…" Ripley's train of thought was broken by a tugging at her sleeve, only to see the a small two-year old girl with big brown eyes looking up at her with a small, tatty, stuffed unicorn toy clutched in her tiny right hand. "Hi, m- my nwame's Ag- nes. Wha's yours?"

Ripley didn't know whether the kid was naïve or just plain stupid, none of the kids approached the violent ten-year old, no-one ever said hello, or introduced themselves on account of their fearsome aura. Hell, even if they didn't know her, usually the scars and the _fucking,_ missing right eye would scare them off for the first two months; and Ripley knew that her terrible personality would scare anyone away for good.

The ten-year old could tell that the brunette wanted nothing more than to pull Agnes away for the smaller girl's safety.

Still, it was nice to be approached without being yelled at…

And just like that Ripley decided that she liked Agnes, and when Ripley made decisions she stuck with them.

Ripley sat up on her bed and bent down to be at eye-level with Agnes.

She could see the bespectacled brunette holding her breath, ready to rescue the little girl should Ripley display any intent to inflict harm upon the little girl that was Agnes.

'_Good sister,'_ Ripley thought approvingly, she noticed the older brunette's physical similarities to the little girl standing before her, _'lucky kid.'_

Ripley smirked, and shook Agnes's outstretched hand gently, and opened her mouth, speaking for the first time in a year, her voice raspy from disuse…

"Nice to meet you Aggie," Ripley said in raspy English, "my name's Ripley."

The little girl laughed innocently, and Ripley felt the corner of her mouth quirk up slightly...

'_Maybe my roommates won't be such pains in the ass as I thought.'_ Ripley thought as she looked over to the other two children.

"So," Ripley started, her voice still raspy from disuse, "you two have names or should I call you Thing One and Thing Two?"

"My name's Edith!" The blonde five-year old declared loudly, jumping up from her cot.

"It's Margo." Said the brunette politely.

"Cool." Ripley replied, and the small girls began to talk to her…

It felt nice, and Ripley never even noticed as she talked more than she had in her entire life…

Ripley never even noticed herself smiling for the first time since her Big Brother's death…

And so it began…

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**TRANSLATIONS!**

**Dáma?**– (Czech) Lady?

**Nekteri kluci jsou pronasleduje me, mohl byste prosim skryt me?** – (Czech) Some guys are chasing me, could you please hide me?

**Ona je mrtvá, aby mě.** – (Czech) She is dead to me.

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A/N: Okay, in my world the three girls came to the Orphanage at the ages of: Margo = 7, Edith = 5, Agnes = 2. Those are the ages, and Ripley is three years older than Margo. No, Ripley will not take over the story, I just had a plot bunny. If you hate OCs then find another fanfic to read. Oh and about Ripley's language thing, her native language is Czech, but she knows English because her Big Brother made her learn, but she prefers to speak Czech because no-one understands it. Also, if you lived at Miss Hattie's would you even want to talk to anyone? Anyways, this chapter was FOURTEEN pages of hell to write, but I finally got all the backstory out and will go into movie-verse next chap. Tell me did you guys enjoy the chapter? Please give me feedback, I want to know it there's something I'm missing or doing wrong, and don't worry I'll do my best to keep the characters in character. So… REVIEW PLEASE! REVIEWZ KEEP ME WRITING! If anybody wants an update, I need REVIEWZ! (foams at mouth) Next chapter will feature Gru!

OOOOOOO

**EXPLANATION:** Note that she can both speak and read English and Czech. Ripley just chooses not to talk to anyone (until Margo, Edith and Agnes of course).

OOOOOOO

**WARNING:** If anyone says that Ripley is a fucking mary-sue, there's gonna be some FURY RAININ' DOWN!

OOOOOOO

**OC Character Bio(for next chapter):**

**Given(original) Name:** Unknown

**Current Name:** Ripley

**Gender:** Female

**Age:** 9 to 10(prologue), 13 plus(next chapter onward)

**Height:** 4 ft and 2 in.(prologue), 5 ft. (next chapter onward)

**Weight:** 66 lbs.(prologue), 93.6 lbs. (next chapter onward) –note that she's underweight–

**Hair:** Black

**Eye:** Blue

**Skin:** Fair –pale

**Body Build:** Small (ectomorph)

**Distinguishing Features:** Missing her right eye, several scars on right side of her face

**Ethnic Background:** Unknown except for her speaking fluent Czech, won't ruin it for you. No spoiler for you. ;P

OOOOOOO

**REVIEW! IMAGINARY KITTEN-AGNES COOKIES TO ALL REVIEWERS!**


	2. Three Years and A Day

Disclaimer: I own nothing, otherwise I'd be stinking rich right now…

A/N: Okay, yeah I'm back. Seriously, I'm taking tests and crap at school and it is DIFFICULT! I spend all my formerly free-time studying my butt off… Anyways, here's another chapter, after this I have to finish my other fics as well… Before I EMO, please review, they make my day less depressing…

**NOTE:** OMG, I edited, again… Stupid OCD for perfect writing… Please read, and review…

**NOTE:** AGGGG! I just found a streaming for the movie and my OCD WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE! So now I'm fixing the chapter… AGAIN! AGGGG! CURSE YOU OCD!

**UPDATE(again):** Yeah, before I continue with chapter 12, I am going through my old chapters and looking for errors, I know, people want updates, but I'm trying to update Harry Potter fanfics too, as well as my 9 fanfic, on top of school work. Fixed the sentence that I stopped halfway through, yeah, it REALLLYYY annoyed me…

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Chapter 1: Three Years and A Day

A disgruntled Ripley shook her head lightly, fingering the handle of her beloved switchblade in her pocket with her right hand. Another day of going from house to house selling those God-forsaken cookies that Miss Hattie made them sell…

"I say this violates Child Labor laws…" A thirteen-year old Ripley grumbled as she trailed behind two girls shorter than she was, a blonde and a bespectacled brunette.

"Child what?" A blonde haired Edith questioned.

"Laws that say kids can work at age fourteen." Margo said methodically.

Edith nodded quickly and lost interest as she swung from another light pole.

Standing at exactly five feet tall was one Ripley, a thirteen-year old with black hair, one blue eye and a bad temper. Her hair was cut short, just above her shoulders. Today, she sported a pair of faded blue jeans, a plain black t-shirt, and an old pair of blue, high-top sneakers with ripped laces. The teen covered her head with a large but snug, black beanie, and covered the right side of her face(the scarred side) with a red bandana tied in a slantwise position across her face.

Ripley sighed as she carried Agnes, or Aggie as Ripley preferred to call the five-year old. This behavior was pretty typical of the two older Kavanagh siblings, Ripley resisted the urge to shake her head.

Three years ago, the older girl had predicted that the three girls' stay at Miss Hattie's Home for Girls would've been a short one, how wrong she'd been.

Due to the girls' insistence at being adopted all together, no prospective parent wanted that much responsibility… Especially all three of them…

So, for once, Ripley actually had roommates that she _liked_. As far as she was concerned, they were alright, Margo with her calm maturity, Edith with her offbeat macabre humor, and Agnes with her innocent understanding.

As far as Ripley had been concerned their bastard of a step-father deserved to be castrated with a rusty spoon for leaving such awesome kids in a department store…

Ripley never said anything about it, but she admired them a bit. Not because they could fight the best or talk their way out of a situation, but how they stuck together. And despite how much Margo and Edith seemed to clash or argue, they always were ready to back each other up.

Ripley would've given her left lung for sisters like that.

Three years ago, Ripley had joined her cookie sale route with Margo, Edith and Agnes's. The older girl never said it to them out loud but, there were a _lot_ of freaks scattered about the place. And it just wasn't right that Miss Hattie just sent girls to their doors…

'_It's like saying, hey, free pussy, come on down pedophiles RAPE ME!'_ Thought Ripley bitterly as she caressed the switchblade's handle again.

How Ripley despised that woman who practically ran their lives now…

She remembered her first days at that Orphanage, it really did live up to its mental title in Ripley's mind, it really was a living hell…

Ripley remembered her first year at the orphanage well, she never had much self-esteem to begin with, and it only proceeded to dwindle with each of Miss Hattie's cutting remarks, glares and little cruelties.

The one-eyed girl sighed as she re-adjusted a smiling Agnes in her arm carefully. Observing Margo take charge of yet another cookie sale, talking to yet another airheaded adult living in a rose-tinted world behind a white-picket fence…

'_Pathetic.'_ The teen resisted the urge to sneer disdainfully at the woman Margo was selling cookies to. _'Oh well, at least it's a sale.'_

"Ripley?" Agnes's small voice seemed to snap the teen out of her thought.

"Yeah Aggie?" It was practically an instinct, Ripley always called Agnes, Aggie.

"You okay?" The little girl asked, her big brown eyes sparkling with innocent concern..

"Yeah Aggie," Ripley answered, removing her right hand from her pocket and smoothing out the five-year olds' hair. "Just fine."

Margo had a knowing look on her face as they walked to their next house, but the brunette remained quiet.

Oddly enough, Margo had become quite perceptive of the older girl's moods and habits, as well as her personality quirks. She often seemed to know what Ripley was thinking of, or at least her mood in general, by just watching Ripley's few expressions.

Often times, Ripley found the bespectacled brunette to be more mature than _she_ was. As far as she knew, Margo was far less prone to violence and far more responsible than the older girl had ever been when _she _was ten.

Hell, Ripley remembered her first year at the orphanage, every casual cruelty and cutting remark, every failed adoption. Ripley soon gained a reputation that preceded her, in the four years that she'd stayed at 'Miss Hattie's Home for Girls', she had been adopted… And returned, twenty-two times…

Hell, and not even all of those so-called family experiences were relatively decent ones…

Ripley resisted the urge to caress her switchblade for comfort… She wasn't completely positive, but Ripley was sure that Margo knew about that habit as well….

Speaking of Margo, Ripley found even more reason to despise Miss Hattie. When she had come to the orphanage with her sisters, she had been scared but brave all the same for a seven-year old. Margo had maturity, brains and more strength of character and confidence than Ripley had ever seen in another kid. But Miss Hattie had slowly, surely eroded that confidence with cutting remarks, casual cruelties, and demeaning punishments that never fit the 'crime'.

Hell, it wasn't even just Margo that Miss Hattie had worn down, Ripley had watched Edith sink lower into her macabre worldview as Miss Hattie practically bullied them every day. Even poor Agnes, who didn't understand what was even going on, or hell, even why Miss Hattie was so horrible and cold to them.

Ripley couldn't fight the scowl that had found its way onto her face and she felt her lip curl distastefully. Already Miss Hattie was destroying them, marring their childhoods with emotional scars that would only fade with amnesia.

How it made Ripley's blood boil with barely confined rage, how Ripley wished that she could simply kill the monster who ran the orphanage that the four of them lived in. How Ripley wished that she was half the insane serial killer-to-be as her Big Brother had been. Everything in Ripley longed to lash out at the shackles that held the four of them to that hellhole they slept in every night, but was tightly held back by the fact that it would cause the three younger girls more harm than good.

Hell, Miss Hattie's background checks were terrible completely legal, but horrible all the same… Ripley winced as Agnes's foot shifted abruptly against a rather nasty bruise on the thirteen-year old's ribcage. Her ribs were still bruised from her last almost-adoption escapade, what woman adopts another child just so that their biological kid won't be the beating post for her drunk ass of a husband?

You'd think that cracked ribs would heal after a month, hell they hurt at all the most inopportune times. Ripley actually had troubles keeping it from an observant Margo and a more perceptive-than-one-would-think Edith. Agnes took things at face value, as most small children did, easily convinced that whatever the older girls told her.

Thankfully, the two younger girls hadn't seen the wince, the older girl rejoiced inwardly, they had enough burdening their minds already. Ripley, as a general rule, didn't care for people, or anybody but herself. Yet, despite her apparent selfishness, Ripley retained this soft spot for them, her _only_ soft spot... _EVER._

Already, in a mere year, it felt as if Ripley had known the three forever. Via time, trial and error, not only had the younger girls learned to read the older girl, but vice versa as well. Ripley had learned that Margo, was incredibly smart for her age, well-beyond that of her idiotic peers at school. Edith was intuitive, loyal and had a good, if not slightly macabre sense of humor. Agnes, Agnes was nothing but an adorable girl who just loved and never judged. Ripley knew what scared them, what made them laugh, hell she even tried sneaking them something decent under Miss Hattie's nose as much as she could, that was testament to her… Attachment to them…

Ripley remembered nights, when it seemed that all walls were down, when the big questions that haunted the younger girls seemed to bubble to the surface. What was never said in the day, always made its way into the girls' almost nightly conversations.

Ripley knew that Edith never let anything get to her during the day, she would simply distract herself with causing mischief or finding something or other to do. That girl was a tough little trooper, but when night fell, Edith had to be still. Any lingering insecurity would creep up on the mind when unoccupied and Ripley knew the feeling. Margo just seemed to stew in her doubts, but when asked she was very honest. Eventually, nights like those would result in Edith or Margo waking Ripley up with their talking, or waking her on purpose to talk about it.

Ripley's blood boiled remembering Edith question about the validity of Miss Hattie's cold remarks. The teen felt as if she would burst into flames when Margo had 'a look.'

Ripley knew, Margo had a certain look on her face when she doubted that her or her sisters would ever be adopted, much less together.

Ripley had devoted her nights to reversing the damage done, to save something, anything of what their childhoods could be. To make sure they _didn't _become gosh damned emo kids or juvenile delinquents who spend more time in Juvie, than in school.

Hell, Ripley was already in deep shit when it came to that, she couldn't even count the number of times she'd almost been caught stealing from other people's lockers and pawning them off at the downtown pawnshop.

Why? Ripley had no fucking clue.

What did it matter anyways? She still hallucinated that her Big Brother's ghost follows her around on a daily basis, though that may have been due to her refusal to eat the crap Miss Hattie called 'food', but Ripley felt that her life had a bit of purpose this way.

Ripley stole a peek at Margo's clipboard, their sales' tally, it was, as expected, very low. At least, the sales were low by Miss Hattie's standards. Ripley sighed quietly, if the sales were too low, Margo, Edith and Agnes would spend time in the 'Box of Shame' and Ripley would spend the day stuffed in a crowded broom closet.

Ripley knew that Margo's time was running out, in a year, Margo would probably be too big for a 'Box of Shame' and just get stuffed in the closet with Ripley. When that happened, you were old enough for Miss Hattie to come up with more varied punishments. Nothing, totally illegal, at least.

Ripley knew that her reputation already preceded her, she knew that she had no aesthetic advantage over other orphans, she had no chances of being adopted anymore. But…

'_They do.'_ Ripley thought doggedly, _'and I'll be fucking damned if they spend the rest of their young lives in that hell hole with me…'_

"Rwipley?" Little Agnes tugged at a lock of the older girl's black hair. Ripley's attention was once again on the five-year old.

"Yeah Aggie?" Ripley always answered Agnes's questions, it was a habit.

"Why are you so quiet?" Agnes looked up at the one-eyed girl, Ripley knew the other two girls were listening too, though they didn't look at her.

'_So,'_ Ripley thought to herself cynically, _'they know me, and are the only unselfish thing I'll do for anybody, great Ripley, just great.'_

She never planned to get attached to them, so sure that they'd be adopted in no time. But as they stayed longer, as another month would pass, as Ripley would come back from yet another failed adoption, they would still be there.

Ripley still remembered the first time she came back, only two months after Margo, Edith and Agnes had come to the orphanage…

OOOOOOO

_Flashback…_

_As if her day could get any worse, Ripley had gotten in trouble at school for fighting, again._

_Weren't families supposed to care about you no matter what? That's what Mrs. Neille said when she decided to adopt Ripley._

_Mrs. Neille had been really nice, and her husband was gruff, but ignored Ripley, which was fine by her. So Ripley shouldn't have had anything to worry about, besides, those bullies had attacked her! It was self-defense! But did school teachers or principal believe her? No, they believed those spoiled brats with parents on the damnable school board…_

_On the bus ride home, Ripley's thoughts wandered, would the Mrs. Neille be angry with her? Would they ground her? Spank her or something like that?_

'_Dear God,' Ripley heard other kids doing it at the orphanage, she decided to pray too, and Mrs. Neille came and adopted her… Maybe… 'I know you must be busy, very busy saving souls and running Heaven, but maybe I could ask something again? I pray that Mr. and Mrs. Neille won't be too angry with me. I pray that they'll still…'_

_The bus stopped, and Ripley had to step off, so she gathered her backpack and stepped onto the sidewalk._

'_Amen.' She cut off the prayer quickly as she approached the house…_

_Ripley had come to the Neille's house, ready, maybe it wouldn't be the same, maybe Mrs. Neille would listen. Give her some ice for her bruises too…_

_But Ripley, despite all disappointments that her past six adoptions had left her with, did not expect to see her packed bag at the door, and both of the Neilles' sitting at the kitchen table. Mrs. Neille's face was apologetic, but serious._

"_H-" Ripley started, but was interrupted by Mrs. Neille. _

"_Ripley, dear, please take a seat." Mrs. Neille said politely, gesturing to the empty chair._

"_Oookay…" Ripley said, an uneasy feeling settling in her stomach. She was in trouble, but some part of her was sure that the worst she'd get was a grounding._

"_Now, I know you've had a hard time adjusting," Mrs. Neille said apologetically, "but this behavior is just unacceptable!"_

"_But-" A ten-year old Ripley protested, about to explain the side of the story the principal had refused to hear, only to be interrupted by the gruff voice of Mr. Neille._

"_Do not interrupt young lady." The tall man said from his seat as he glared sternly at her._

"_Now I've tried to be understanding," Mrs. Neille continued, "but you are fighting, and getting in trouble more and more often, we're getting calls from your school almost every day. And we have already addressed this issue several times, but you just won't listen will you?" Mrs. Neille's voice had taken on a condescendingly apologetic tone._

"_But-" Ripley started again, only to be shushed by Mr. Neille's hard gaze._

"_I'm sorry Ripley, but we just can't keep you, you're just too unruly to handle ourselves." Mrs. Neille said seriously, that annoyingly apologetic expression still adorning her face. _

_Ripley wasn't sure but, somewhere, deep inside, she could _hear_ her heart cracking._

"_That's why we're sending you back," Mrs. Neille stood up and gestured to Ripley's duffel bag and backpack. "You can check your room to see if I missed anything."_

_An hour later, Miss Hattie's had pulled up in a small car, and had Mr. and Mrs. Neille sign some papers. Mrs. Neille took one last look at Ripley's blank expression and bent herself to meet her green eyes with Ripley's singular blue one._

"_You know that this is for the best, right honey?" Mrs. Neille's soft tone just seemed to make Ripley's heart harden, "you know that Mr. Neille and I love you very much and only want what's best for you, right?"_

'_Liar.' Ripley thought bitterly._

_Ripley remembered, she remembered the woman teaching her how to cook, and her promises. Mrs. Neille had promised, they'd be a family, Ripley would be happy. She promised Ripley so much, she promised that she'd they'd be family forever. That Ripley could tell her anything she was ready to tell, that she'd be her Mother. That Ripley would get hugs everyday even when the ten-year old protested, warm smiles and a friendly ear to tell her troubles to._

_Where were those promises? Where were those promises of love and affection for the rest of her childhood?_

_Then Ripley recognized it, finally, on Mrs. Neille's face… It was never love, it was pity…_

_For the whole month and three days Ripley had been there._

_Ripley could almost have sworn that she heard a sound, the sound of a heart breaking._

"_Sliby, sliby, tak mnoho slibu. Jste nic, ale lhani, slib jistic. K certu s tebou, sakra do pekla." Ripley replied emptily in Czech._

_The one-eyed ten-year old then turned and took her seat in the car, closing the door behind her. And refused to make eye contact with the woman, Ripley even ignored Miss Hattie._

_ooooo_

_About half an hour later, Ripley found herself stuffed in a crowded broom closet. All she had to look forward to was talking to Aggie, Edith and Margo…_

_Then Ripley remembered, of course there were a bunch of parents coming to the orphanage this month, they were probably adopted by now…_

_The ten-year old sighed as Miss Hattie unlocked the closet door, and judging by the robust woman's expression, Ripley would not be eating tonight either. Quietly, the ten-year old made her way to her room, fully expecting it to be either empty or to have new, bratty roommates._

_Ripley was surprised, when ten minutes of staring at the cracks in the ceiling later, the three girls walked in. From what looked like a cookie sale route, Miss Hattie had almost everyone doing that, regardless of age really…_

"_Hallo Rwipley!" Agnes's childish lisp rang in the air, ripping Ripley out of her solitary thoughts._

"_Eh?" Ripley answered, not really feeling up to answering with actual words at the moment._

"_Weren't you adopted last month?" Margo questioned curiously._

_Ripley felt herself smirk, "what? Thought you could get rid of me that easy?"_

"_But we saw you get 'dopted…" Edith muttered as she plopped down onto her bed, well, more like a cot._

"_They couldn't handle me," Ripley stated while forcing a well-practiced look of confident pride onto her face, "they couldn't handle the coolness that is Ripley!" _

"_Rweally?" Agnes looked up at the girl with big eyes. _

"_Yeah," Ripley steered her expression to a serious one, "Miss Hattie has you guys selling cookies already?"_

"_Yeah." Margo said quietly._

"_You guys okay?" Ripley then did something she'd never done before, she left her corner of the room and sat next to Margo._

"_Yeah." The seven-year old brunette said tiredly, "just tired."_

"_Me too." Edith chimed in before yawning._

_Soon the girls had changed into their pajamas, and got ready for bed. Ripley had spoken little, letting Edith and Agnes talk, while Margo observed the older girl quietly._

_Agnes had trouble climbing into her bed, so Ripley lifted the two-year old up onto the bed and tucked the covers over her. But the little girl had stood up on the bed and, short as Agnes was, and hugged the Ripley's neck. _

_Prying the tiny girl's arms from around her neck, Ripley cocked an eyebrow at the tiny girl, "what was that for."_

"_You wook sad." The little girl said quietly, "Mommy gwave hugs when we were sad."_

"_Yeah well, I don't need hugs," Ripley said, suddenly stoic, but staring at the adorableness that was Agnes and resisting was only possible by heartlessness or blindness. "But the sentiment's appreciated." Ripley muttered under her breath as she plopped herself onto her own bed in the corner._

_Ripley hadn't noticed Margo staring at her, or the three girls sit up and kneel on their beds and clasp their hands together in praying motion._

"_Dear God," Margo said aloud, "thank you for this day."_

_Ripley resisted the urge to scowl, what was there to be thankful for today?_

"_We pray that we'll get adopted soon, to a nice family-" Margo continued, before Edith threw in her two cents._

"_With a big house and yard!" The blonde sounded slightly energetic._

"_And a pet unicworn!" Agnes added ecstatically, and there was the unicorn obsession again…_

"_With a Mom and a Dad who'll love us a lot." Margo paused, waiting if her sisters wanted to add anything, "Amen."_

"_Amen." Edith and Agnes finished their prayers._

_Ripley lay on her bed in silence, not even under the covers, and soon enough her ears were met with the slowed breathing of Edith and Agnes…_

"_Ripley?" It was Margo._

"_Hm?" Ripley answered._

"_Why are you really here?" Margo's question wasn't new, not to Ripley anyways. But, Ripley had a feeling that Margo would be able to tell if Ripley was lying…_

"_Fact of life," Ripley attempted and failed, to keep the bitterness from leaking into her tone, "there are __**so**__ many people who want children, but aren't ready for them."_

"_Yeah." Margo sounded like she understood what the older girl was talking about, and Ripley wouldn't have put it past the seven-year old's intelligence. _

"_So what are you three still doing here? I heard that there was a bunch of parents here, I was sure you three would've gone fast." Ripley questioned blankly._

"_Someone wanted Agnes…" Margo started._

"_But?" Ripley could just feel the tension in the air._

"_We won't be adopted unless we're together." Margo said with determination._

_Ripley felt her mind just, stop. Adopted together? Ripley had watched identical twins separated in this place, brothers leave their younger siblings, how could Margo, as intelligent as she was, hope to be adopted with __**both**__ Edith and Agnes?_

"_What did ya do?" Ripley couldn't help but ask._

"_Edith set her on fire…" Margo mumbled._

_Ripley, giggled. She just giggled, which turned into a soft chuckling guffaw, it was a foreign sound in the one-eyed girl's throat, she never laughed. She hadn't laughed in years._

_Margo was silent, she'd never heard the one-eyed ten-year old laugh before. She sat up and stared at the giggling Ripley from the other side of the room._

"_A kid after my own heart." Ripley said between chuckles, "tell me, how'd she do it?"_

"_A mudpie, a can of the lady's hairspray, and a cigarette lighter." Margo explained, still staring at the laughing anomaly. _

"_Oh geez," Ripley said while wiping the tear that had resulted from her laughter, "at first I thought I'd have to deal with screaming brats when you guys came, but," Ripley tried to stifle a giggle to no avail, "you guys __**are**__awesome."_

"_Really?" Margo sounded incredulous, Ripley was sure that the seven-year old was still wary of her._

"_Yeah, I don't think I've met anybody who could make me laugh since my brother. You guys are alright in my book." Ripley said as her giggles began to die down. _

"_Thanks." Margo replied quietly, Ripley saw the brunette draw up her knees to her chest beneath her large t-shirt pajamas._

"_You okay?" Ripley found herself asking._

"_Not really." Margo answered truthfully, "you?"_

"_Same. Life's a bitch ain't it?" Ripley comment was met with a disapproving stare from Margo, "don't worry, I censor myself when Agnes and Edith can hear 'kay?"_

"_Bad habit though." Margo commented._

"_Along with the list," Ripley said jokingly, "I have a lot of bad habits Margo."_

_There was a silence that followed, Ripley would've thought that Margo had gone to sleep, if Margo hadn't have been sitting up._

"_Do you think we, any of us, will get adopted?" The seven-year old asked quietly._

"_Apart, yeah. Together?" Ripley paused to think, "one in a million." _

"_So you're saying-" Margo started._

"_Ah, ah, ah, let me finish." Ripley interrupted Margo quickly, "but that one in a million will most likely be better than any of those other chances you guys have apart."_

"_How so?" Margo asked._

"_Well," Ripley paused to think for a few moments, "take me for instance. I've been adopted several times, mostly by people who either think that they're ready for a kid, or out of pity. I've __**always **__sent back, and I'm sure that this last failure of an adoption won't be my last." Ripley kept her face blank, or at least as blank as possible before continuing, "think about it, the reason people adopt little kids is because they want to skip the baby period, or a multitude of reasons that don't benefit __**you**__. But you know what? You guys haven't even hit the double digits yet!" Ripley didn't know why, but her voice cracked a little, "if someone is too stupid or heartless enough to separate you or __**not**__ love you guys, guys what? Those worthless people aren't worth it, they don't deserve you, they don't deserve kids period. It's better to wait for the chance of a lifetime, that one in a million, than to have a million half-assed chances that give you nothing but heartache in the end."_

_Margo was quiet, the brunette had never heard the older girl say so more than two sentences at a time, much less the veritable paragraph that Ripley had just uttered._

"_So Margo," Ripley finally sat up, and turned to look at Margo across the small room, not even noticing that her beanie and bandana had come off, "tell me something, what do you want more?" _

"_More than what?" Margo said nervously, looking a little frightened, Ripley realized that in the shadows of the room, the older girl's face must've looked frightening._

"_What would you rather have, if you had to choose?" Ripley repeated her question, "your sisters or a home?"_

"_My sisters." Margo answered without pausing, "it wouldn't be a home without them."_

_Ripley felt a grin tug at her mouth, "good."_

"_Good? Good, what?" Margo sounded a little confused._

"_You aren't prepared to abandon them the first chance you get, and from the tone of your voice, you'll raise hell to keep together. Good." Ripley answered, looking at Margo with an unreadable expression._

"_Thanks." Margo sounded as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders._

"_No prob." Ripley said, "but don't think I'll be nice to __**everyone **__now, alright? I'm still a bad-ass, soon-to-be-teenager with more tricks than brain cells, got it? "_

"_Got it." Margo said, Ripley could have sworn that the girl was grinning._

_After about two minutes of silence, Margo spoke again._

"_Ripley?" _

"_Yeah Margo?" The one-eyed girl answered._

"_How'd you… Um…" Margo seemed to, for once in the month that Ripley had known her, flounder for words._

"_Lose my eye?" Ripley said nonchalantly, "shrapnel, and a really big piece of wood."_

"_Ouch." Margo commented while rubbing her right eye._

"_Pretty talkative tonight, aren't we?" Ripley commented offhandedly._

"_Sorry." Margo apologized politely._

"_Don't apologize, I like talking, I just haven't met anyone intelligent enough to hold a conversation with 'til you guys came." Ripley felt herself grin a Cheshire Cat grin. _

"_What was your brother like?" Margo blurted, wow she was on a roll._

"_What?" Ripley wasn't sure she heard the brunette right._

"_You said that you had a brother, what was he like?" Margo repeated, a little slower that time._

"_Would you believe that I had four?" Ripley said._

"_Wow." Margo couldn't imagine having that many brothers._

"_Yup, they were all older than me, and three of them hated me." Ripley eye seemed to glaze over in the darkness as she remembered her time before the orphanage, "his name was Kazimir, he was the oldest."_

"_What language is that?" Margo asked._

"_Czech." Ripley answered curtly, "we had different Dads, but Kazimir looked out for me, and kept my other brothers off my back."_

"_Sounds like a great guy." Margo commented._

"_Not really," admitted Ripley._

"_Why not?" Margo asked._

"_He was __**insane**__." Ripley said with an unperturbed expression._

"_How much older was he?" the brunette asked._

"_If he were alive today, he'd be nineteen." Ripley said, "but none the less he was completely insane."_

"_Why?" Margo said with slight trepidation._

"_Let's just say he had a very weird obsession with turning dead things into art." Ripley said before kicking her covers to the foot of her bed's metal frame. "But he did teach me the 'Seven Golden Rules That Can't Go Wrong.'"_

"_Seven golden rules?" Margo raised an eyebrow._

"_Yup, curious?" Ripley smirked at little, coupled with her scars, her slightly underweight stature, and the indent of her eyelid indicating her missing eye, the ten-year old looked downright scary._

"_A little." Margo's curiosity seemed to get the best of her as she added, "tell me."_

"_Okay, rule number one is…"_

_The rest of the night the older girls talked, and talked, and talked… _

"_You guys selling cookies tomorrow I'm guessing?" Ripley said as she tucked her ten-year old self beneath her itchy covers._

"_Yeah?" Margo answered, yawning tiredly._

"_I'm following you guys tomorrow." Ripley said, leaving no room for argument as she tried to sleep._

"_M'kay…" Margo muttered as she stretched out, soon drifting off to sleep. _

_For a while, Ripley simply stared up at the ceiling, going over all the conversations she'd ever held with the three sleeping girls a few feet away._

_When she had grown attached, Ripley didn't know… But, they made it a little bit less lonely… _

_Odd thing was, Ripley didn't feel that sad anymore…_

_End Flashback…_

OOOOOOOOO

Since then, Ripley had

Ripley resisted the urge to stab the man known as Fred McDade. Seriously, this guy was just so freaking annoying! It's like the man's very countenance seemed to grate upon Ripley's nerves of steel like nails on a chalkboard.

'_Just buy the fucking cookies already!'_ The teen thought venomously, while trying not to squish Agnes in her annoyance.

"Well thank ya kids!" The oblivious man twitched his mustache as he signed his name on the order.

As the girls walked to the next house, Margo and Ripley couldn't help but notice the dead lawn, the dark countenance and shadow the house seemed to exert.

Margo rang the doorbell…

Unheard by the younger girls, Ripley could hear quiet footsteps approaching the door. The first nine years of her life she remembered her Mother drilling the harshest, more demanding expectations into her little head. Unfortunately, Ripley had never been a success in her Mother's eyes, she had a bullet scar as proof of that…

"Hellooo?" Margo said, "cookies for sale!"

Then Edith jumped and made a face at the door's peephole.

"Ahwuh!" Was the surprised male voice that Ripley's ears picked up. Edith went to sit on the wooden step, resting her head on her palms impatiently.

Agnes made Ripley put her down, and stood next to Margo holding her tiny unicorn toy.

"Go eh-way, I'm not home." Came a slightly accented voice, possibly Russian or Hungarian… Ripley distinctly remembered the many different accents of her Mother's many bed-partners.

"Uh, yes you are, I heard you." And there went Margo with her infallible logic, it never failed to make Ripley want to grin.

"Dis…" The man paused for a second, "is, a ree- cor- dingg. Leave a message, beeep."

Ripley didn't know what she wanted to do more, laugh at the stupidity, or to feel insulted.

But when Edith's white boot kicked the door…

"Ow!" Came the accented voice.

"Goodbye recorded message." Said Agnes innocently.

"Agnes, come on!" Margo called out to the five year old, whom quickly followed.

In the end as they walked away, Ripley did both… On the inside….

OOOOOOO

_Later…_

As the four girls walked back to the orphanage, Edith swung from lamp posts, walking along the sidewalk's edge.

Then she jumped into a puddle, splashing her other three companions.

"Ugh! Edith, stop it." Margo said sternly, pointing a finger at Edith.

"What?" Edith retorted, "I was just walking." Then she began to scoot her white boots along the street as she walked…

Walking up the steps to the brick building that was the orphanage was like walking into a dungeon for Ripley, the teen was sure that the other three felt the same.

Soon enough the four of them stood before Miss Hattie's desk, with Margo holding the clipboard.

"Hi Miss Hattie, we're back." The four of children echoed together as they stood behind the line on the floor in front of Miss Hattie's desk.

The fat, red-headed woman slid her chair to look at the four, and in a fake sweet voice said, "hello girls."

"Anyone come to adopt us while we were out?" Tiny Agnes could barely peek over Miss Hattie's desk as she asked this.

"Hm…" Miss Hattie said quietly, "Let me think… No." Her answer was cold, and of all mean as her hand hit the desk with a meaty thud.

Ripley's attention was captured when Edith slid a mudpie on Miss Hattie's desk.

"Edith! What," The robust woman, "did you put on my desk?"

"A mudpie." Edith said proudly.

Miss Hattie sighed in annoyance, "you're never gonna get adopted Edith, you know that don't you?"

Ripley wanted to stab that woman so, so, sooooooo badly at that moment…

"Yeah, I know." Edith's eyes grew a little downcast.

Okay, Ripley _really_ wished that Kazimir was _alive_, so that he would've used Miss Hattie as an autopsy doll…

"Good," Miss Hattie said with a look of smug boredom, "so how did it go girls? Did we meet our quota?"

"Mmm, sorta." Margo answered as she held the clipboard, adjusting her glasses she spoke again, "we sold forty-three Mini-Mints, thirty Choco-Swirlies and eighteen Coco-Nutties."

'_Dear God,'_ thought Ripley, _'that bad?'_

Miss Hattie sighed, then stood up, holding a picture frame, stepping out from behind her desk she said, "you say that like it's a great sale day... LOOK AT MY FACE!"

Suddenly Miss Hattie was all up in their personal space, nearly startling the bejeebers out of all four of them.

"Do you still think," The woman looked menacingly at Margo, "it's a great sale day?"

Miss Hattie put the frame on the wall, "eighteen Coco-Nutties, I think, that we can do a little better than that, don't you?" Miss Hattie's voice just grated on the thirteen-year old's nerves the more and more she talked, "Besides, we wouldn't want to spend the weekend in the 'Box of Shame' would we? Oh, no?"

"No Miss Hattie." They all replied, though Ripley had a little more bite to it, barely even perceivable.

"Okay now, off you go, go clean something of mine." Miss Hattie dismissed them.

"Hi Penny." The four girls said when the passed the 'Box of Shame.'

"Hi guys." Came the small voice of Penny from inside the cardboard box.

Ripley, Margo, Edith and Agnes then retired to their shared room and got ready for bed. But just before that, the three girls kneeled on their cots, and said their prayers as diligently as they had always done every night since they'd arrived.

Ripley had spaced out, so she only caught the middle and end of their prayer.

"-oh and to watch over us and bless that we have a good night's sleep." Margo prayed.

"and bless that while we're sleeping, no bugs wilk crawl into our ears and lay eggs eggs in our brains." Edith grinned devilishly.

"Great," Margo rolled her eyes, "thanks for that image Edith."

"And please bless that someone will adopt us and, that the Mommy and Daddy will be nice…" Agnes paused, then added, "and have a pet unicorn. Amen."

After that they all tucked themselves in beneath their thinning covers to sleep…

"_Unicorns I love them,_

_Unicorns I love them, _

_Uni-, uni, uni, unicorns, I love them,_

_Uni, unicorns, I'm gonna pet one,_

_Hm, hm, yar!_

_So I bought one…"_

Somehow, Ripley couldn't find it in herself to feel annoyed by the song, hell, the thirteen-year old would never admit it but… She used to love unicorns too, before her Mother decided to rape her childhood naivety and dreams with a chainsaw…

Hearing Agnes singing innocently, made Ripley's chest hurt a little…

…

Ripley really, really, really, really had a difficult time not getting up in the middle of the night and murdering Miss Hattie while everyone slept that night…

OOOOOOO

_The Next Day…_

'_Another day, another crappy box of cookies to sell..'_ Thought a truly bitchy Ripley as they walked to another residence in search of another sap to purchase the crappy things not even worth being called cookies.

'_Why is there a crater in the street with a man inside it?' _Ripley wondered briefly as they approached a house surrounded by _huge_ white walls. _'Probably some rich dude...'_

"Holy f- flip!" Ripley had barely enough time to censor herself as weapons and rocket launcher just came out of the wall.

"Cool." Edith breathed with this small, devious little smile on her face.

"Uh, hi!" Margo started, "we're orphans from Mrs. Hattie's Home for Girls.."

"_I don't care, beat it!"_ Came a nasally male voice from the intercom.

"Oh come on! We selling cookies, so, you know, we can, have a better future." Margo said, getting closer to the intercom camera.

Of course, Ripley was still staring apprehensively at the, _**FREAKING ROCKET LAUNCHERS POINTED AT THEMMMM!**_

"_Um, wait, do you have Coco-Nutties?" _Came the nasally voice again, Ripley resisted the urge to gag, seriously? Those were the crappiest cookies ever, who the hell would be _that_ rich and still be _that_ stupid to buy them?

"Uh, yeah." Margo said, facing the intercom again.

Suddenly the rocket launchers seemed to fold up and go back to whence the came, making Ripley's shoulders relax a little.

Two minutes later, Ripley found her patience and nerves being grated once again when confronted by what the teen could only describe as an orange monstrosity.

The man had a freaking, bowl cut, a huge nose, the dorkiest square glasses Ripley had ever seen, a pot belly that was most likely not healthy for that age, and to top it all off?

The man was wearing a freaking warm-up suit, orange, with white stripes…

Ripley was even further tested when they entered his huge house, when the man tried to act 'cool.'

She wanted to strangle the man, especially when he started to brag about himself as he filled out his order form.

Then he did this 'dance.' It involved pelvic thrusts in the air with a slight sway to a beat that wasn't there…

Ripley had forced herself to not say anything as Margo took care of the sale.

When they left the house, and the property…

Ripley spazzed and rubbed her one eye frantically...

"Oh GOD!" The thirteen-year old cried out in dramatic horror, "mindsoap, dammit! I need mindsoap! I'll never be able to _unsee_ that! Uhgh!"

Edith made a fake retching noise in agreement.

"Come on, at least we made a sale. A big sale for tomorrow you know?" Margo said, but Edith and Ripley could tell that the ten-year old brunette agreed with them…

OOOOOO

Upon coming back to the orphanage, the girls had to face Miss Hattie. And her, "you know you'll never get adopted' speech. Ripley scowled, suddenly glad the woman had never discovered her switchblade, she still had the chance to kill that bitch if the situation called for it…

That night, Ripley decided that, for morale's sake, she would join the girls' in their prayers before going to bed.

Of course, they didn't have all that much to look forward to except their dance recital right? Ripley tucked Agnes in out of habit, before going to her own bed…

Upon falling asleep, the three older girls were of alike minds, asking the same question…

When would the cycle end? When would it change? Was there a chance at all?

These were the thoughts that plagued them as they fell asleep, before falling into slumber like all the nights before…

* * *

**Translation/s:**

**Sliby, sliby, tak mnoho slibu. Jste nic, ale lhani, slib jistic. K certu s tebou, sakra do pekla.** = (Czech) Promises, promises, so many promises. You are nothing but a lying promise breaker. Damn you, damn you to hell.

**Kazimir **= (Czech, male name) means 'the great destroyer'

OOOOOOOOO

A/N: Hey! Yup, I finally did it! Chapter One! WOOOOO! That was fifteen pages of Calibri(body), eleven point font! I never intended for the chapter to be so long, but the flashback took like, what? Four pages? Five? Hell, I'm too tired to go back up there and count… Anyways, yup, you saw a Ripley and Margo bonding moment there. I'm proud of myself, don't worry, I won't concentrate on Ripley too much, but once I started writing this is what I got. I know I promised you guys Gru and you got 'im. Just, behind a door, that's all. Sorry Vector fans, I'm sympathetic sure, but I really didn't like him at all. And if I got the order of the parts that were featured in the movie I apologize, I've only seen the movie once and if there's something to be fixed, I'll fix it when I buy the DVD. Yeah as far as character development, I showed a little more of Margo, Edith, Agnes and Ripley's personalities. So yeah, tell me how I did, please! Constructive criticism is preferred, reviews keep me happy. REVIEW PLZ! Thank you my wonderful REVIEWERS! =)

OOOOOOOOO

**NOTICE**, did you notice the tidbit of info I gave on Ripley's brother?

OOOOOOOOO

**PS: **Try to guess what the **7 Golden Rules **are.


	3. Of Crazy Night Lives and Adoptions

Despicably Me

Disclaimer: If I owned Despicable Me, I'd be rich! But sadly, I don't.

A/N: Yeah, here I am again. Here is chapter two, please read and REVIEW!

**NOTE:** I'm not sure whether Gru adopted the girls ONE day after they put down the cookie order to Vector or TWO days. I've only seen the movie ONCE.

**NOTE AGAIN:** I edited, again. I had to fix some little things here and there. So here's the edit… Gah, damn OCD…

**NOTE ONCE AGAIN(OMG!):** It NEVER ENDS! I had to edit... AGAIN! AGGGGHH!

**APOLOGY: **Sorry, slight glitch, I accidentally replaced chapter with wrong file, sorry ya'll! (sweatdrops)

* * *

**Translation/s:**

**Kde je sef clovek? Mam zasilku pro nej.** = (Czech) Where's the boss man? I have a shipment for him.

**Mi querida.** = (Spanish) My darling.

**Mam nejake zbozi, ktere by vas mohly zajimat. Chytit vas zajem?** = (Czech) I have some merchandise that you might be interested in. Catch your interest?

**Ano, podjme.** = (Czech) Yes, let's.

**Ja jsem ten, riskoval krk, ne ty, ty fnukani, dvou-stal pred podvadet.** = (Czech) I'm the one risking my neck, not you, you whining, two-faced cheat.

**A ne dolar mene.** = (Czech) And not a dollar less.

**Ne, co je odporne je, ze jsem vas jeste zniceny.** = (Czech) No, what's outrageous is that I haven't gutted you yet.

**Jemne, krysa.** = (Czech) Fine, rat.

* * *

Chapter 2: Of Crazy Night Lives and Adoptions

The next morning, Margo awoke to a bright sunlight shining painfully through her eyelids like giant sabers.

Groaning, she sat up, rubbing her eyes blearily. Margo sighed, another day, another cookie sale, more of Miss Hattie's remarks, glares, and selling cookies… But at least dance practice was something to look forward to…

Then there was there recital, which was fast approaching, only a month away.

Ripley was oddly absent, usually whether Ripley snuck out or not, the thirteen-year old was usually there to say 'good morning' and 'what tortures shall the dungeon master give us today?'

Soon, Edith and Agnes were up too, along with the rest of the orphanage, and everyone was getting ready for the day. Margo couldn't even hold Edith back when she barreled her way into one of the only two bathrooms they could use.

Days like these were reminders of how easy it made life when you hang out with the oldest, tallest and scariest, kid in the orphanage who just happened to be a teenager.

It helped when Ripley could split a small crowd like Moses did the Red Sea.

Margo sighed as she pulled on her black Lorax t-shirt over a white shirt, followed by a brown, collared jacket.

Edith pulled on her snow-hat beanie to complete her pink ensemble, followed by her white boots.

Agnes had been dressing herself without help for about a year now, despite Margo's protests at first when the younger girl nearly strangled herself with one of her overall straps.

Ripley wasn't in their shared room when they got back…

'_Where is she?'_ Margo, Edith and Agnes all wondered.

OOOOOOO

_With Ripley, the night before(a little after the end of Chapter One)…_

When she was sure that the younger girls were asleep, though this had mostly pertained to Agnes singing her Unicorn Song; Ripley had grabbed her switchblade, and her backpack, and headed out.

She had some scrounging to do, cause... Well, to put it simply, Ripley was flat broke…

Being broke sucked in more ways than one.

Being broke meant complete reliance on Miss Hattie to be fed, THAT WAS A BIIIIIG NO-NO!

It was like this, every few nights, Ripley would sneak out through one of the windows farthest from Miss Hattie's room, as to not wake up the sleeping dragon lady…

Every time she snuck out, Ripley would free-climb her way down to side of the orphanage building, into the alleyway.

Afterwards, Ripley would make her way to downtown, she knew all the back roads and shortcuts.

Upon entering the downtown area of the city, you wouldn't even recognize the change until you walked about a quarter mile in, afterwards, the difference was like blood on a white t-shirt.

Here, this was Ripley's area of expertise, the one place where, if you were streetwise enough, you could get away with _anything._ It didn't matter whether it was illegal or not, it just mattered how much scrap you were willing to put into whatever you do.

Here, Ripley held an, unofficial position at the pawnshop. Typically, Ripley had been to several pawnshops in nicer parts of town, but unfortunately people there were simply a bit too nosy for Ripley's taste.

She entered the building with her black hood shadowing her face, as a young, pimply-faced man at the counter greeted her enthusiastically.

"Oh hey Switch!" He said with a smile, calling her by her nickname.

"Kde je sef clovek? Mam zasilku pro nej." Ripley replied in a harsh, heavily accented voice. By now, she knew, intimidation was everything here.

And it was best to not let the horny little bastard get any ideas…

"Okay, okay, sorry dude." The clerk apologized quickly, waving his hands quickly. "You know what I'll get im' for you." Then the pimple-faced male scurried off to the back rooms…

Ripley waited at the counter patiently, stroking the handle of her trusty switchblade in her hoodie's pocket… Just in case…

"Ah! My little Russian friend!" Out walked a tanned man, in a gaudy sombrero and a tacky white suit.

Ripley's eyebrow twitched dangerously.

"Kidding, just kidding mi querida!" The flamboyant man declared with ease, waggling his eyebrows a little.

"Mam nejake zbozi, ktere by vas mohly zajimat. Chytit vas zajem?" Ripley replied, keeping up with her act.

"Step into my office madame," The man said in a false, French accent, "and we shall talk business."

"Ano, podjme." Ripley replied curtly as she stepped into the pawn shop owner's ratty office(and it really was ratty by the way...

After he closed the door, he went to sit at his crappy desk…

"So Switch, whatcha got for me?" The man wrung his hands eagerly, Ripley knew that this guy was ripping her off every time he paid her for the stuff she stole, but he didn't know much, and she damaged everything she sold him, so she was getting a better deal than he was.

Ripley remained silent, and reached into her backpack…

Pulling her hand out, she came up with five iPods, two mp3 players, five sets of earphones, a Bluetooth, three four gigabyte USB drives, and a blue iPod shuffle.

"Nice haul." The man whistled, "hm, good condition, nice colors… I'll give you three hundred for the whole lot."

Ripley glared at him.

"What? Business is slow these days." The man said apologetically.

Ripley glared some more, holding up six fingers.

"Six hundred?" The tanned man exclaimed, "now that's a rip off."

"Ja jsem ten, riskoval krk, ne ty, ty fnukani, dvou-stal pred podvadet." Ripley said in a low, dangerous voice, the fingers in her right hand twitching towards her pocket.

The man straightened with a poorly concealed apprehension, Ripley wasn't called Switch for nothing. In the downtown area, Ripley wasn't a 'troubled teen with violence issues', she was a force of nature.

She could have her switchblade out and stabbed into a joint before you could even say 'oops.' When Ripley fought, she fought like a demon possessed, with only one thing in mind: winning.

Here, her life, it was all that mattered, bringing someone down was only half the fun.

Three and a half years ago, people here had underestimated Ripley, tried to pull one over on her, like she was stupid.

Well she wasn't, and they had some scars and no evidence to prove it without convicting themselves.

Ripley did make a name for herself, with Kazimir's switchblade as her symbol. But, despite the hype, Ripley rarely had any _serious_ fights.

"Now, now," The sleezy man amended nervously, "I think that we can come to some sort of agreement without resulting in unnecessary violence."

"Sss- seven hun- drrehdd," Ripley faked a heavily accented stutter, "a ne dolar mene."

"That's outrageous!" The man sputtered.

"Ne, co je odporne je, ze jsem vas jeste zniceny." Ripley said while fingering her switchblade.

The man had started sweating bullets at that moment, though he probably hadn't understood a word Ripley had said.

'_Feh,'_ Ripley thought venomously, _'pathetic.'_

"Okay, how's about six-fifty and one free item from the store?" He simpered while rubbing his over-greased hair.

"Jemne, krysa." Ripley moved her hand away from her pocket and shouldered her backpack.

The man began to rifle around his desk for about a minute before lifting up a lockbox to the surface of the desk. Then he took a key from his pocket and opened it…

'_It figures,'_ Ripley thought sarcastically, _'that cowardly as this guy is, he's a real good scam artist.'_

From the box, the man pulled up a collection of fives, tens, twenties, and a few fifties.

Ripley counted the collection carefully, then nodded, before stuffing the money into a plastic Ziploc's bag for safe keeping as she left the sleezy man's office.

Browsing through the store, there really wasn't much to choose from, but then she found it.

A gun.

A Generation 3 Glock 17 nine-by-nineteen handgun to be exact, though it was empty.

'_I'll take it.'_ Ripley thought as she slipped the empty gun into her bag.

Leaving the store at a leisurely pace, Ripley cut through the suburbs, the rows upon rows of almost completely identical houses…

"_-DE MOON!"_ Came the nearby echo an accented voice, followed by the echoes of cheering.

Ripley looked up, and nearly did a face plant when she saw a guy standing on an extended platform that was rising from his… Split roof?

'_Great,'_ thought Ripley sarcastically as the man said something she didn't pay attention to, _'another nut-job.'_

"-And I vill be da greatest villain of all time!" Finished the man, his statement was followed with the echo of more cheering.

Ripley felt like smacking her forehead as she walked past the house, absently recognizing it as the house with the man whom pretended to be a recording…

The teenager sighed as she cleared the suburban area, another villain? Really?

It wasn't as if she wasn't aware of the world of 'Villains', honestly. As much as they kept themselves a 'secret', Ripley had learned about their existence from a noob Villain who got wasted at a bar.

That man had been far too talkative for Ripley's tastes…

In the end she took his wallet after his eighth vodka, and his face plant on the bar.

'_Seriously,'_ thought Ripley as she climbed up the wall and through the window, it was morning already and everyone was probably dressed, _'the moon? Why the moon? Why not-'_

"Where were you?" Came a female voice all of a sudden.

"Holy SHIT!" Ripley felt herself jump as Margo just seemed to appear out of nowhere…

Not really, they'd just gotten back from breakfast.

Edith grinned devilishly, but with a hint of curiosity.

Agnes just looked overjoyed that Ripley was back.

"You missed breakfast," Margo said, "we had to cover for you and say that you were still sleeping."

"But Miss Hattie said you wouldn't be getting any breakfast though…" Edith said with a small huff.

"That's fine." Ripley replied noncommittally .

"But seriously, where were you all morning?" Margo asked.

"Oh you know, here and there, everywhere." Ripley answered cryptically.

"Ripl-" Margo started as she gave the older girl a serious look, before being cut off by a noise.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

Three rapid knocks, most likely Mrs. Tallwen, an employee of Miss Hattie's. The woman then opened the door sharply, and gazed at all four girls with a stern, empty glaze of indifferent loathing.

Standing at a diminutive four foot, nine, a sharp facial structure, with green, hawk-like eyes, was a Mrs. Tallwen. With her red suit jacket, white button-up shirt, a red skirt, and scary high heels, she was all business. She was the woman who kept all the children in line when Miss Hattie 'wasn't available.'

"You four, get your things," Mrs. Tallwen said clinically, "you're being adopted, you have three minutes." Then the woman left, slamming the door behind her.

"'Dopted?" Agnes questioned with a growing smile.

"Yeah!" Edith cried before rushing for her suitcase.

Suddenly it was as if a gun had been fire in the room, because before Ripley knew it she was helping Edith cram her few belongings messily into her suitcase while Margo folded hers and Agnes's clothes neatly.

Beforehand though, the three girls squealed excitedly.

"I bet the Mom's beautiful!" Margo said as she folded clothes into the suitcase.

"I bet the Dad's eyes sparkle!" Edith said with a grin.

"I bet that they'll have a house made of gummy bears!" Agnes smiled innocently.

Ripley, Edith and Margo looked at Agnes strangely.

"I'm just saying that they'll be nice." Agnes explained, "aw, looks like my caterpillar will never turn into a butterfly."

"That's a cheeto." Edith said with a pointedly.

"Oh." Was all Agnes said before she chomped down the only-God-knew-how-old Cheeto.

Ripley said nothing the entire time, she had no good feelings about any of her adoptions. It was never that simple, life never gave you a break, no matter how much you beg, cry or bleed for one. All it did was step on you and step on you until you've little else to do but pick up the little pieces that are left and try to start again, only to have the process repeated in a endless cycle until you finally decide that you've had enough shit and just stop picking up the pieces like an idiot.

Of course, Ripley didn't voice her thoughts out loud, not wanting to spoil the girls' happy mood.

Ripley always had her stuff packed, mostly because she at one time, used to plan on running away from the orphanage many times. But due to a lingering attachment, namely Margo, Edith and Agnes, she had always put off that plan for another day.

But… Maybe?

'_No,'_ Ripley quickly reprimanded herself sharply, _'just don't ruin anything for them.'_

That was the one thing on her mind as all four of them walked down the hall, carrying their things, and descended the stairs until they finally arrived at the door to Miss Hattie's office.

Ripley could feel Margo getting ready to make a good first impression…

The three oldest girls, steeling their nerves, all but ran into the office…

'_You have __**got **__to be kidding me.'_ Ripley thought, mentally anime jaw-dropping.

There stood a tall, bald man with a broad shoulders, thin legs and a long needle-like nose. Cold blue eyes seemed to exude a slight nervousness as he attempted to fake a smile, though Ripley though that it just made him look constipated. He was wearing a white doctor's jacket, with a… Reflector on his head?

'_Faaaaaake.'_ Ripley snorted mentally.

"Girls, meet Mr. Gru." Miss Hattie said, and ew, was she blushing? "He's a dentist."

"Uh, hi." Margo said politely, though Ripley could tell that the intimidating man was not what she expected, "I'm Margo, this is Edith," Margo gestured to Edith, "Agnes," Margo lifted Agnes's hand that she'd been holding, "and that's Ripley."

"Eeehee!" Agnes had suddenly run forward and clamped onto the man's leg, making Margo and Ripley feel a little worry for her safety, though most of it was on Margo's part. "I got your leeeg! I got your leeg!"

"Ah- alright, dat's enough, leetle gurl." The man's accented voice was something like a bad, or awkward actor. Ripley watched in amusement as the man tried to get Agnes to release her hold on his leg before finally giving up and leaving the Orphanage.

The all got into what looked like a… Giant tank?

Ripley felt the urge to smack her forehead, but resisted…

When they got to the house, Ripley was unsurprised that as the man went for the door of the dilapidated looking house, Margo spoke up.

"Hey, you were that guy pretending to be a recording." Margo's tone was accusatory.

"No, dat vas someone else." The man's tone had gone colder, at least it wasn't that fake sort of politeness that people often would try to exude. It pissed Ripley off.

The inside of the house was another story entirely, richly decorated with red carpet, several framed newspaper clippings, weapons and medieval torture devices, it looked like a stereo-typical villain's home…

'_How cliché.'_ Thought Ripley, scratching at a scar hidden beneath her bandana absently.

But Ripley could've cared less, as long as the guy was honest about what he thought of them and didn't try anything funny-

"Can I hold your hand?" Asked Agnes in a quivering voice.

"Eehh, no." The man walked further into the house.

Ripley wanted to stab him, just when she thought she could take a break from the homicidal urges, another target just walks onto the field and says, 'hey! I'm trying to piss you off! Shoot me!'

Ripley chanced a look at Margo's face, and sighed inwardly.

Of course, Ripley could already see the smart-ass skepticism that was just waiting to come out. Ripley had sadly done nothing to curb some of Margo's tendencies to be an intelligent smart-ass who knew what she was talking about.

It was just too much fun to watch.

As the four girls walked down the hallway, they observed the lion's head mounted on the wall, with a stuffed cat in its mouth.

"You know, when we got adopted by a bald guy," Edith said quietly, "I thought this would be more like Annie."

Margo and Agnes were quiet.

Ripley always hated those heavy silences, so she did one of the things she was best at…

"Should I sing 'Let's Go to the Movies' and see if that Mr. Gru guy'll sing along?" Ripley said with a Cheshire cat grin adorning her features.

Edith giggled along with Agnes, and Margo grinned a little.

Hey, Ripley just needed to remind them that _she_ was a smart-ass, waaaaaay before Margo even knew the meaning of the word.

To the thirteen-year old, everything could turn out alright, but truly, things weren't all that bright as far as odds went at the moment…. So, why not pull some bullshit and see what came of it?

Ripley re-shouldered her duffel bag thoughtfully, and cracked her knuckles as a scary Cheshire cat smile graced her features for a brief moment.

Cause, well…

Ripley was an expert bullshitter.

* * *

A/N: Okay, I know, yeah I did stuff on Ripley again. Next chapter actually pertains to the 'good parts' of the movie, okay? So anyways, this chapter was waaaaaaay shorter than the previous chapter or the prologue, only eight pages of eleven point font. Why did I end it here? It seemed like a good place, that's all. Plus I wanted to get a chapter out before cramming for my Oceanography Test tomorrow. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, please REVIEW! I want to know what you think.

**NOTE ON Ripley:** Yeah, she steals things from her fellow classmates and sells them. No, she is not really as 'strong' as the people who fear her think, she just plays it up to a certain degree to get what she wants. Yes, she is not completely sane, or nice in many sense of the word. She knows about the existence of Villains(remember: Drunk NOOB Villain –or anything, really– equals boatload of information). Remember that Ripley was flat broke and now had 650 dollars cash, her switchblade and an empty gun. She views her possession of those items as safety insurance. NOT MARY SUE!


	4. First Day Blues

Despicably Me

Disclaimer: I own nothing, if I owned Despicable Me, do you think I'd be writing THIS? (goes to cry pathetically in corner)

A/N: Hey ya'll! I know, I'm on a roll. But anyways, I'm just waiting for the DVD, which is COMING OUT IN DARN December! I can't wait that LONG! AHHHHHH! And I found that the streaming I was using has parts cut out, and is missing the second half of the movie… So, anyone know a legal FREE streaming site(preferably one that doesn't require personal info or an account) where I can watch Despicable Me?

**NOTE:** I am posting this a day late(after I finished editing) due to being a little (cuss word) and refusing to load even when I have internet.

**Thanks to the Reviewers Who Make My Day:**

Luiz4200, DP-Shrine-in-closet-girl, and LillithDemon, thank you for your wonderful reviews, they really make my day! REVIEWZ inspire me to write more often!

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Chapter 3: First Day Blues

Soon the four girls could hear a growling from up ahead, coming onto the scene of what looked like-? Some sort of, wolverine?

It growled, then charged at them. Margo seemed to get ready to push both Edith and Agnes behind her. Ripley watched in amusement as Mr. Gru tried to stop the animal, thing, with his newspaper, only to have the little beast grab hold of the other and practically shred the paper with its many pointy teeth.

"Bwah!" Mr. Gru had, hidden behind them? And said, "Kyle dese are nawt treats, dese are guests. Gurls dis is Kyle my," he paused as if searching for a word, "dog."

Kyle growled.

Out of the corner of Edith's eye, she could see Ripley giving the dog the evil eye.

"Ooo, fluffy doggie." Agnes let go of Margo's hand and seemed to toddle forward towards the hairy monstrosity with all its teeth sticking out without a single fear in the world.

The dog stiffened, then fled Agnes with a fearful whine.

Margo looked up at their adoptive parent, "what kind of dog is that?"

"He's a… I don't know." Mr. Gru said with a slump.

"Do you really think this is an appropriate place for little kids?" Margo questioned the tall man, cutting right to the chase.

None of them had really noticed when Edith had wandered off quietly to look at the very real, very dangerous house décor.

Ripley saw no problem with Edith's exploration until the blonde stepped into the Iron Maiden.

"No, no. Get away from dat." Mr. Gru jogged forward only to have the Iron Maiden close.

A red liquid poured from the bottom.

Margo and Agnes gasped in shock, and grief.

Ripley sniffed the air, Margo wasn't really paying attention to the teen at the moment, but Ripley looked calm.

"Oh well, I supposse dee plan," Mr. Gru said with a sigh that could hardly be classified as even remotely remorseful as he turned to walk away, "vill work with three."

"Hey!" Came Edith's voice from inside the Iron Maiden, "it's dark in here!"

Upon opening the torture device, and unharmed, but slightly annoyed Edith was found.

"Pffw!" The pink beanie wearing blonde spat out a straw before stating with irritation, "it poked a hole in my juice box."

Margo gave this odd, I told-you-so look that Mr. Gru seemed to ignore. At that moment, the ten-year old kind of understood Ripley's stoic behavior, despite the older girl's attempt to be positive about the situation.

Soon the four followed their adoptive parent to the kitchen, which had a lot of pots and pans, though they looked mostly unused.

"As you can see, I hawf everyting a child might need." He said while setting the torn newspaper onto a small pile of them on the floor. Three signs, 'Food', which was above a dog bowl filled with candy, 'Water', a dog bowl filled with water, and 'Pee Pee and Poo-Poo' over the newspaper pile.

'_Really?'_ Margo thought, _'okay, Margo, positive thoughts. Nothing good came of looking on the horrible side of things…'_

Margo didn't even have the time to stop the blonde as she tried to reach the high counter to what looked like glass container filled with a bright green liquid, before the blonde knocked it over and it spilled on the floor with a dangerous sizzle.

"Aghk!" The tall, foreboding man spun around and glared at little.

"Somebody broke that." Said Edith as she pointed to the spill.

"Oh-kay, cle-hearly we've got to set some ru-huls." He walked back and forth almost dramatically, "rule nomber one: joo will not touch anyting."

"Uh huh," Said a bespectacled brunette, "what about the floor?"

"Yes, yoo may touch dee floor." Mr. Gru said, train of thought temporarily derailed.

"What about the air?" Margo could make out the quirking twitch of Ripley's lips as she said this, the brunette mentally sighed, it was as if the teen wanted her and her sisters to have bad habits…

"Yes, yoo may touch dee air."

"What about this?" Edith suddenly had what looked like a ray gun with a laser sights mounted on it pointed at Mr. Gru. He cowered immediately behind a frying pan, before taking the weapon from her.

"Where did joo get day?" He asked quickly.

"Found it." Edith didn't explain any more.

"Rule nomber two is don't boh-ther me vhen I'm workeeng." He paused to set the ray gun thing on the counter top, "rule nahmber three, you will not cry, or whine, or laugh, or giggle, or sneeze, or burp or fart. So no, no, no annoyeeng soun's, alright?"

"Does this count as annoying?" Agnes asked before making a clip-clopping noise by clapping her cheeks.

Mr. Gru had stopped Agnes's noise by holding her wrists and looking darkly at her, "_very. _I will see yoo in six ow-erse." Then he exited the kitchen quietly.

"Okay," Margo said comfortingly to both Edith and Agnes, and secretly to Ripley as well, "everything's going to be fine, we're going to be really happy here. Right Agnes? Right?"

The three girls turned around to find Agnes's face buried in the candy bowl, with candy sticking to her face. Margo heard Ripley stifle a giggle, she honestly didn't know why Ripley kept everything so close to her chest all the time. As far as Margo knew, Ripley was never nice to anybody else but her and her sisters.

Ripley hadn't even been the least bit worried during the Iron Maiden thing with Edith, which made Margo wonder vaguely if Ripley had been sniffing for the scent of blood. Margo always knew that, close as they all were to the one-eyed teen and despite all the nightly heart-to-hearts, Ripley always would have things she'd never tell them.

Sadly enough, Margo sometimes was unsure if she wanted to know what those things were.

Like what went on in Ripley's nightmares.

Ripley would gladly console Margo, Edith and Agnes about their nightmares, but Ripley's own nightly demons, the ones that would make her weep silently and speak in Czech, we're the teen's own.

Margo knew the teen would gladly put up a fight with anyone who gave them a hard time, and the ten-year old was grateful. But sometimes, she had a feeling that she just wouldn't want to know most of what Ripley thought.

Though Ripley proved that she could be comforting, in a blunt, morbidly realistic kind of way. Margo found the teen's willingness to back her and her sisters up a real comfort, though it didn't really do much for them in life.

Margo's impression of the man whom had adopted them, was reserved, but still a judgment none-the-less. As far as she was concerned, the house was dangerous, the man himself was distant and cold, and Margo could finally understand Ripley's lack of excitement every time an adult took pity on the thirteen-year old and adopted her. Somehow, Margo just wanted Edith and Agnes to not be disappointed in how things were turning out-

"Margo." Ripley spoke for the first time in what seemed like a while as the four of them walked down the hall and entered through a pair of tall wooden doors.

"Hm?" Margo sounded surprised as she was ripped out of her train of thoughts.

"You're over-thinking it," Ripley said before taking a breath, "stop, it'll just make you more paranoid."

"Didn't you say that paranoia was a good thing?" Margo quirked an eyebrow as they opened the doors and came to another richly decorated room. With a huge Rhino chair, and a TV taller than Ripley was.

Ripley whistled through her teeth, "now _that's_ what I call a TV."

Margo couldn't help but agree.

As the four girls split up and explored the room, none of them noticed Kyle, the wolverine, monster-dog, thingie following Agnes whilst attempting with little success to bite her as she climbed up the Rhino chair to get at the TV remote.

Then her foot hit a button.

_Fwwwwsshhhh!_

There was a small commotion that garnered the other girls' attention as a hanging war cannon was hooked and brought to the rising floor and opened up to reveal a tube-like transport.

"Whoa!" Edith said excitedly, running up to the transport tube, "that is cool!"

"What is this James Bond?" Ripley muttered, looking thoroughly unimpressed.

"Come on!" Edith said as she bounded forward into the transport tube, followed by Margo, Agnes and Ripley.

"I don't think he's a dentist." Agnes said quietly while Margo held her hand as they stepped into the tube and it swished shut.

The tube was then lifted and moved, before dropping rapidly, like a really fast elevator.

"Whoa! This, _is_, awesome!" Edith breathed excitedly as the tube slowed.

When it had stopped, the tube swished open, and it was like stepping into another world. Margo looked surprised, Edith was ecstatic, Agnes was curious and Ripley was… Well, Ripley.

Soon they began to explore, passing what looked like several inventions or a yet undiscovered nature was a joy to Edith a she looked at them devilishly.

Margo had some small difficulties restraining the blonde, though it helped when Ripley whispered something to Edith, though the ten-year old was sure she wouldn't find out at the moment.

Then they heard the voices of what sounded like an older man and Mr. Gru.

"Now dose are cookie-robots!" Said Mr. Gru while looking excitedly at the table, that assumably had the so-called robots on it.

Then Agnes started to move her unicorn toy along the table's corner while singing, "I'm a unicorn, uni- uni- unicorn!"

"Vhat are you do-eeng heere? I told you to stay in dee kitchen." Mr. Gru finally spotted the four girls in the lab.

"We got bored. What is this place?" Margo said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and it was.

Ripley didn't show it, but she wanted to hear _this_.

Mr. Gru took a breath to say something, but was cut off by Edith.

"Can I drink this?" Edith poked at a glass container containing a clearish-blue liquid.

The really, old, old guy grabbed it, and said sarcastically, "do you want to _explode_?"

Ripley just couldn't find the patience, no new person could speak to _any_ of the younger girls like that when Ripley was around.

Ripley gave her biggest, creepiest Cheshire cat grin, and held out her hand about meter away from the old, old man and said, "I don't know, but I've _always_ wanted to try."

Edith looked up at the old, old man, then kicked him in the shins.

"Neh! GRU!" The old, old man gripped his kicked shin.

Meanwhile Margo had been just looking at Mr. Gru with her arms crossed, Agnes observing.

"Get back in dee kitchen!" Mr. Gru pointed away in the kitchen's general direction.

"Will you play with us?" Agnes asked cutely, tugging at his pantleg.

"No." The dark man answered sourly.

"Why?" Agnes questioned.

"Because I'm beesy." Mr. Gru answered.

"Pfft doing what?" Margo scoffed at she grasped the handles of what looked like some sort of laser beam.

"Okay, okay, yoo got me." Mr. Gru said before maneuvering the laser beam looking thing away from Margo, "dee dentist ting is more of a hobby, in real life I am a spy, and eet is top secret and you may not tell anybody beecause if you do-"

Margo honestly could see how that would work, but she also noticed Ripley on the verge of bursting out into peals of laughter, she could tell by the tears welling up in the teen's singular blue eye. Mr. Gru's threat remained unfinished as Edith's voice piped up with a question.

"What's this do?" No-one had noticed Edith getting a hold of the device Margo had once held, but unlike the brunette, the pink-wearing girl had pulled the triggers, making the device release a beam of red light, hitting Agnes's tiny unicorn plushie, which promptly disintegrated.

Agnes gasped.

"Hey!" Mr. Gru looked really annoyed.

"Oops." Edith looked from behind the laser.

"My unicorn!" Agnes cried out before looking up at Mr. Gru, "you have ta fix it."

"Feex it?" Mr. Gru began to walk away, "eet can't be feexed, eet's been dee-sintegrated, by defineetion eet cannot be feexed."

Agnes eyes narrowed a little, before taking a deep breath and holding it.

After a few moments, Mr. Gru spoke up.

"Tha's freaking me out, what is she do-eeng?" He asked.

"She going to hold her breath until she gets a new one." Margo stated matter-o-factly.

Ripley nodded in agreement.

"Eet is just a toy, now stop eet." Mr. Gru spoke to Agnes in an annoyed ordering tone.

A few more moments, and Agnes looked a began to sway before falling over to the floor.

Margo went to make sure Agnes was okay, noting the amusement quirk of Ripley's mouth. Ripley always seemed to know whether they were injured or not, strange as it was to the ten-year old brunette.

"Okay! Okay! I'll feex it!" Mr. Gru cried out with a frown before grabbing what looked like an intercom or a microphone hanging from the ceiling before yelling into it, "Tim! Bob! Phil!"

Suddenly with three swishes, out of the hollow tubes came what looked like three yellow pills with eyes, hands and clothes.

"Dees eez very eemportant, you have to get de leetle gurl a new unicorn toy." Mr. Gru said while rubbing his temples.

"Eh? Buboy?" The tall one said in some incomprehensible language. "Mahmoy?"

"Nuh, nuh, nuh, no, mah-_moy_." Said the shorter one.

"Ohhhhhhhh." The first one said as if understanding. "Mah- moy."

The second one just rolled his eyes, then the three of them babbled a little in a language the four girls couldn't understand.

"Hey!" Mr. Gru said with an ill temper, "a toy! Now go!"

The three yellow things walked out of the room, and Mr. Gru turned around to face the girls again.

"Hey, what were those?"Margo asked with wide eyes and a slightly weirded out look on her face.

"Dey are my," Mr. Gru paused, "cousinz."

Margo felt disinclined to believe the tall man, not just because of the sheer outlandishness of the lie, but also the look on Ripley's face when Ripley would be thinking one thing.

'_Bullshit.'_

"Gary, Stewart." Mr. Gru said curtly to two more yellow things, "watch dem and keep dem away from me please." The bald man waved his hand at the four girls noncommittally.

Margo just looked at the two odd creatures nervously, but noticed Ripley's blank expression…

OOOOOOO

_Later…_

The odd yellow creatures, Margo came to find, were actually very fun.

Though it was nice to see Edith and Agnes having fun, Margo couldn't help but think that Ripley shouldn't have encouraged the toilet paper throwing.

Ripley stifled her sniggers as a roll of toilet paper hit Mr. Gru, he looked mad.

"Okay, bedtyme." He said shortly, indicating behind him.

"Awwww." The four girls and two minions said together as they were not tired at the moment.

"Nawt you two." Mr. Gru pointed at Gary and Stewart.

"Yay!" The two cried.

Upon coming to their new room, they sat in what looked like large bomb shells.

"Okay, beddy bye, all tucked een, sa-veet dreams." Mr. Gru moved to a lever to elevated the three bombshell beds onto the wall.

"Just so you know," Margo said with a cold tone, "you'll never, be my Dad."

"Hm, somehow I cac leeve weeth dat." Mr. Gru said undissapointedly.

As Edith came to face level with the man, she asked, "are these beds made out of bombs?"

"Yes, but dey are very old and highly unlikely to blow up," He adjusted the lever again, "but try not to toss and turn."

"Cool." Edith commented while reclining her head on the pillow.

"Will you read us a bedtime story?" Agnes asked sweetly.

"No." Mr. Gru answered.

"But we can't go to sleep without a bedtime story." Agnes said sadly.

"Vell, den eet's go-eeng to be a long night for you." Mr. Gru was at the door, ignoring the teen whom had to have her bed set up in a longer bomb on the adjacent wall where the other girls beds were. Offhandedly Mr. Gru said, "so good night, sleep tight, don't let dee bedbugs bite, because, dere a lit'rally t'ousands of dem."

Agnes looked scared.

"And dere's probably someteeng in de closet." Mr. Gru whispered ominously, a sneaky look on his face before closing the door.

"He's just kidding Agnes." Margo comforted quietly with her arms crossed, reviewing the days' events in her mind. It was a day that, Margo really, really wished that she could read Ripley's mind, pick the older girls' brain for some of her less used, but useful advice.

"Yeah." Edith said, before turning over and eventually falling asleep.

After some silence, the door creaked open, a scary silhouette stood there for a brief moment, and Ripley noticed Agnes hide beneath her covers fearfully.

Suddenly, Ripley heard the sound of two hops, and they passed the door and into the one-eyed girl's line of sight, revealing them to be more of the yellow helpers.

They walked towards Agnes, before the one dressed up as a baby then held out to Agnes what could only be described as one of the crappiest unicorn imitations ever, at least in Ripley's mind.

Cause, well, it looked like a frigging toilet brush with a ping-pong ball nose, glue-able googly eyes and a paper horn.

But Agnes took it in her hand and smiled, and said, "it's beautiful." Then kissed the rim of the yellow thing's singular eye- goggle.

The three yellow helper things then waddled out of the room, and closed the door…

After a few minutes, Ripley was sure that the girls were asleep.

She, like Margo, mulled over the day's events in her mind.

A villain? Really? Sometime about halfway through the day, Ripley debated telling the younger girls everything she knew, but… Ripley hated raining on their parade, or their hope…

The older girl sighed and stretched a little in her new bombshell bed, before coming up with her battle plan.

'_Standby, scout for danger, do not interfere unless necessary, guard and protect.' _Ripley thought decisively, going with her usually course of action.

It always made things simpler when she looked at things like they were a mission, she was used to _those_. Thinking back to her bitch of a mother-

'_Okay, so not going there.' _Ripley thought as she tucked herself under her blanket, before falling asleep…

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A/N: OMG! I finally got another chapter done! Wow, writing this is so much easier than my other fanfics, I wonder why? Anyways, yeah, this was nine pages of eleven font Calibri and I am so proud! WOOT for me! Please leave a review before you hit that back button! Please tell me what you think and if I'm keeping Margo in character(she is difficult to write by the by). Did anyone notice that I switched between Margo and Ripley's (kinda sorta) points' of view? Yeah, well, please leave a REVIEW!

Constructive criticism is preferred over flames, flames a just mean. FLAMES will be used to roast Edward Cullen over a pit.

Off to cram for another test, wish me luck!


	5. Projectiles in the Kitchen

Despicably Me

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OCs.

A/N: Okay, I'm writing, if I don't sound real enthusiastic excuse me, I just had two other girls lecture me on how fat and ugly I am, hell, I'm a little chubby(really no lie), I could stand to lose a few pounds but they just had to be rude and make me feel like an ugly smear on the wall… Sighs, anyways, enjoy the chapter, please leave reviews…

**Translation/s:**

**Divit, co jeste muzu varit…** = (Czech) Wonder what else I can cook…

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Chapter 4: Projectiles in the Kitchen

The following morning was a drowsy one, Ripley had slept very little that night, but didn't let it show. The thirteen-year old had actually had a serious case of insomnia and gotten up earlier than her current adopted sisters.

Margo, Edith and Agnes awoke well-rested, and moved on with their morning routine, getting dressed, brushing their teeth, combing their hair.

The three of them had noticed Ripley's absence, but made little comment, sure that the teen would be back some time. But then, a most mouth-watering aroma seemed to waft through the air, their stomachs growled, and they suddenly realized how hungry they were. Following their noses, the three made their way through the certainly-not-child-friendly home, to the kitchen…

OOOOOOO

_Earlier that Morning…_

As far as breakfast went, Ripley decided to go ahead and make something. Though the act of cooking still left a bad feeling in her chest still…

As far as the teen saw, Mr. Gru expected them to eat candy three meals a day, which just didn't work for the one-eyed teen. Like hell she was going to let Margo, Edith and Agnes rot their teeth before they even got adult teeth!

Washing the dust off of some of the frying pans, Ripley searched the kitchen for something edible . Coming to a barely stocked fridge was a bit disappointing, but at least there were some bare necessities.

'_Eggs, bacon, milk, butter…'_ Most of the food was still well-away from their expiration dates, but virtually untouched. Ripley snorted, currently unconcerned with keeping up her near-constant stoicism, the man seriously shouldn't waste food.

She found bread too, so toast was a good bet.

Damn, did the man ever clean out his kitchen? Hell, Ripley expected that the man would've probably been the kind of bachelor who never got a date, therefore, no domesticity whatsoever.

Ripley sighed, this chore thing better not become a habit for her.

Finishing with the eggs and bacon, she covered the plates with paper towels and set them on the kitchen table.

"Divit, co jeste muzu varit…" Ripley muttered offhandedly as she searched the cupboards, before finding the jackpot.

Flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

"My flapjacks'll make a grown man cry!" Ripley blurted out randomly as a Cheshire cat grin stole its way onto her face. What? She couldn't be a little crazy every once in a while?

…

Don't answer that.

Ripley muttered indistinctly as she found a mixing bowl, and began to mix.

"Vhat ah-re you do-eeng?" Ripley shoulders stiffened a fraction in surprise at Mr. Gru's silent arrival to the kitchen, also noting the slightly chipper tone in his attitude.

"Food, duh." Ripley stared at the oddly chipper villain. As far as Ripley was concerned, the only person who could be classified as a criminal who could pull off the chipper attitude, and he wasn't even a villain, was her brother Kazimir. And Kazimir was just a freaking fruit loop three screws short of a hale bale in a snowstorm…

Ripley poured the batter onto the heated pan, and the pancake sizzled.

"Whoo said you could raid dee keetchen?" Mr. Gru tried to sound authoritative, but failed as far as Ripley was concerned.

"My stomach, besides, were you planning on feeding us? Or did you think that children just photosynthesize?" Ripley replied without turning around. "And don't touch the bacon or eggs, they're there for people who can't cook without burning themselves. Touch them and I'll shove some of this burning hot oatmeal down your pants just like I did Michael T. Coronier in the fourth grade. If you want something, cook it yourself"

"Preety beeg t'reat from such a tiny gurl." Mr. Gru shot back with that calm villain air, Ripley felt like scoffing.

"I try." Ripley replied in a saccharine sweet voice. "No!"

Suddenly, without even turning around the thirteen year old had grabbed a wooden spoon and thrown it at Mr. Gru's hand that had been inching towards the already cooked food.

"Hey! OW!" Mr. Gru's fingers smarted terribly as the flying wooden spoon hit them, causing him to jerk his hand away from the three plates.

"Get your own!" Ripley growled before turning back to her cooking while muttering, "_should be glad he didn't try anything while I was eating, otherwise he won't __**even **__be __**getting **__those fingers back, much less his hand."_

"You have got to bee pulleeng on my leh-g!" Mr. Gru glared at the thirteen-year old with narrowed eyes.

"If there's one thing I don't joke about, _sir_," Ripley practically said the word like it was dripping in sarcastic venom, "it's food, now, don't touch, otherwise I cannot be held responsible to the damages to your person that might ensure from my sure-to-be-induced bout of complete and utter homicidal rage." Ripley finished her statement by turning her head to face Mr. Gru for a moment and giving him an eerie, Cheshire cat smile.

Then she turned back to her cooking and not a word was said, and Mr. Gru went back to his paper…

Though, that bacon was looking really good to the villain at the moment…

Maybe if he just inched his hand toward the plate really, really quietly…

**THWACK!**

Out of nowhere another wooden spoon flew at one Mr. Gru, smacking his hand with a resounding-

**THWACK!**

And without the following millisecond, another spoon had flown, smacking the man right between the eyes. Had he been anyone else, Gru would've been out cold, but years of falling off of things and things blowing up nearby had increased his physical resilience against the smarting pain in his skull and knuckles.

"Ah-owww!" The man yelled out in reflex.

"I said, **DON'T TOUCH THE FREAKING PLATES**." Ripley's voice suddenly went from its 'tough girl' tone to a slightly, um, well, demonic sounding voice.

Gru resisted the urge to go completely super villain on the girl, reminding himself that today was the day, the day he'd steal the Shrink Ray from Vector.

_He_ was the adult, _he, _Gru was in charge. He would not be defeated by a mere, _teenager_…

His hand inched toward the plate of bacon once again…

**THWA-BANG!**

The sound of a flying stockpot hitting a man's skull filled the air, followed by a loud, "owwwwouch!"

"**GET YOUR OWN!**" Came the yell of a an irate, one-eyed teenager.

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A/N: Okay, in a hurry, please leave your reviews… Sorry, if I sound depressed or anything, anyways, leave your thoughts and comments please… Reviews and constructive criticism please…


	6. Cookie Deliveries and Dancing

Despicably Me

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.

A/N: Okay, yeah I'm seriously on a roll here. But I was in a car accident yesterday morning, so bear with me if my writing sounds a little off… Please review!

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**Translation/s and Terminology:**

**Hodne stesti.** = (Czech) Good luck.

**Nechte ji! Nechceme drzet bezcenny selhani zde!** = (Czech) Leave her! We don't keep worthless failures here!

**Pak ji na me! Musim provicit sve dovednosti operaci nejak ne?** = (Czech) Then give her to me! I have to practice my surgery skills somehow don't I?

**Pokuto. **= (Czech) Fine.

**Vem si to potom.** = (Czech) Take it then.

**Windmill Flare** = in this case, it's a kind of breakdance move, it combines a Flare and a Windmill (note: I CANNOT breakdance to save my life, I tried once, but I sucked and looked like an idiot, it is an experience I'll never repeat), if you wanna know what breakdancing look it up on youtube

* * *

Chapter 5: Cookie Deliveries and Dancing

Margo, Edith and Agnes had heard a banging sound, accompanied by a delicious scent that wafted through the air beneath their noses.

Led by their growling stomachs and their noses, the three girls came into the kitchen…

And were greeted by the sight of one irate teen with a half-covered face, who was hurling empty pots and pans at their adoptive father.

"**GET YOUR OWN FREAKING PANCAKES DAMMIT!**" Came the loud voice of said irate teen as she fended the tall man off while brandishing a large frying pan.

"I said eet beefore ah-nd I'll say eet again, geev me dee damn plate!" Mr. Gru hissed at the thirteen year old as she miraculously balanced several plates on her right arm, holding them away from Mr. Gru.

"Margo, Edith, Aggie!" Ripley called out, noticing her three adoptive sisters, "quick! Take the plates and scarf 'em! Eat it before this guys eats something I CLEARLY! DID **NOT **MAKE FOR **HIM**!"

Edith, ever the mischievous one, took Ripley's cue much faster than Margo or Agnes did, and dashed forward while grabbing two of the four plates from Ripley.

Margo felt a childish, less-indulged mischievousness well up inside her, and she figured, what the heck?

So, dashing forward, she grabbed the other two plates from Ripley, and then herded Agnes out fo the room after Edith.

"HAH!" Ripley yelled.

"Nawt aw-n dee couch!" Mr. Gru yelled as he followed them suddenly, Ripley blocked him off for a few seconds, then after hearing a satisfied burp, smiled and let the man pass.

Mr. Gru came to a living room, if you could call it that with its gaudy décor in Ripley's opinion, with… Was that syrup on the ceiling? How the hell-?

"I don't even remember giving you guys syrup…" Ripley muttered aloud before smiling, "Great improv!"

Margo observed Ripley, she hadn't known that the teen could cook… Then again, when had there ever been a chance for Ripley to show it?

"Awwg!" Mr. Gru rubbed his temples while muttering, "vhy? Vhy? Vhy children?"

"These pancwakes are gweat Rwipley!" Aggie said with a lisp through the mouthful of pancake.

"Yeah!" Edith agreed as she chowed down the last of her bacon and eggs. Margo giggled a little, and ate the last of her pancakes…

Mr. Gru sighed in annoyance.

OOOOOOOO

_Half an Hour Later…_

"Gurls! Let's go!" It was Mr. Gru's voice, from the front yard. "Time to deeliver dee cookies."

Ripley followed the tutu-wearing trio as they toted their dance bags, they were going to ballet practice. Ripley wasn't dancing of course, Margo remembered the twitchy teen saying that she wouldn't be caught dead in a pink tutu doing ballet.

Yes, Ripley was twitchy, though most people never saw her long enough to tell, plus the slightly baggy, punkish clothing that Ripley wore, helped cover that up. Margo to this day, has still never been able to figure out the reasons behind Ripley's occasional twitches and what looked like muscle spasms.

When they came to the doorway with Ripley trailing behind them, Margo, Edith and Agnes looked at Mr. Gru.

"Hmmmm… Okay, but first we're going to dance class." Margo said with a look that said, 'I dare you to disagree with me.'

"Actually, we're going to 'ave to skip dee dance class tooday." Mr. Gru said with emphatic hand gestures and a slight grin that Ripley perceived to be totally fake.

"Actually, we can't, _skeep_ _the_ _dance_ _class_ today." Margo mocked his accent in rebuttal. "We have a big recital coming up, we're doing an excerpt from Swan Lake."

"Yeah! Swan Lake." Agnes supported while clenching her tiny fists cutely.

"Dat's fantastic, wonderful," Mr. Gru said with a more insistent expression, "but we're go-eeng to dee-liver cookies!" The way the man said it was as if he was trying to make it sound exciting for the four girls, Ripley stared at the man with her visible blue eye blankly. "Come on!" Mr. Gru walked exaggeratedly to the large, armored tank-car thing, expected the girls to follow.

"No." Margo had a cool-headed yet defiant look on her face.

"Wh- No?" Mr. Gru stepped back to look at the four of them.

"We're not going to deliver cookies until we do dance class." Said a smirking Margo as she crossed her arms, an action that was followed by Edith as well.

"Really?" Mr. Gru had the 'two can play at that game' look, "well _I_, am not driv-eeng you to dance class, so if you vant to go," Mr. Gru looked at his raised hand in a gesture of not caring, ignoring Agnes who attempted to copy Margo and Edith in their defiant looks, "you are go-eeng to have to walk yoursehl-ves." Mr. Gru finished with a triumphant smirk.

Which vanished in favor of a confused and surprised look, as the four girls stepped down off the front steps and walked right past him and onto the sidewalk.

Looking at the girls once they reached the sidewalk, Mr. Gru asked, "what are you doing?"

"Walking to dance class." Margo answered back like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

'_Ah, turning into a grade-A smart ass already.'_ Thought Ripley discreetly wiping an imaginary tear, _'I'm so proud.'_

"Yah, okay." Mr. Gru said, trying to salvage his failed convincing scheme as he pointed to the ground, "fine, you just keep walking, bee-cause I'm really nawt! Driv-eeng you…"

"Okay." Margo answered.

Mr. Gru sighed, then stepped out onto the sidewalk, "you're go-eeng to suffer dee wrath of Gru! Seriously, I'm going to count to three, an' you had better be in dis car! Heere we go! One! Two…"

Ripley rolled her eyes, this guy was a villain?

That she didn't doubt, but the man just didn't know how to work with kids…

OOOOOO

_Later…_

"-Three, four, and five..." Madame Rosing said as she guided her class of young ballet dancers, "and lift, and stretch…"

Mr. Gru and Ripley sat on the bench, surrounded by bored Moms…

Ripley giggled at the perverse double meanings of those instructions, hell, she had to find something to laugh at today.

Mr. Gru, who was extremely bored, raised a curious eyebrow at the giggling teen to his right.

Another Mother looked at the teen scandalized, having made the connection herself.

Quietly, Agnes had danced all the way in front of Mr. Gru, holding out a pink admittance ticket to him.

"Here you go." Agnes said while complying with Madame Rosing's dance instructions.

"What eez dis?" Mr. Gru said with a tired look.

"Your ticket to the dance recital." Agnes answered sweetly before looking up at him, "you are coming right?"

"Of course, of course," Mr. Gru said with a very annoyed expression, "I, I have peens and needles dat I am seeteeng on…"

"Pinky promise?" Agnes held out her pinky expectantly.

Looking down at the little girl, hooking his pinky with hers, Mr. Gru placated her while rolling his eyes by saying, "oh yes, my pinky promises."

"Haaahh." Agnes said excitedly before running back into the formation with the other practicing girls.

Ripley would've laughed at the absurdity, but… She knew the man wasn't going to keep his promise to Agnes. It made her think of her own Mother, whom never made any promises to _her_, but always expected more than Ripley was capable of…

qqqqqq

_Flashback, Six and a Half years ago…_

_It was a rainy Tuesday, and from within a building in an undisclosed location, was a nervous little girl._

_She was nervous, it was the day of her first evaluation. Her results from that, would determine what kind of position and job she would hold, what's more, her Mother would be watching._

_The little blue-eyed girl was under no illusions, she knew her Mother viewed her as less than a worthless stain on the wall, not even worth the elite woman's time. But if Ripley showed good results, maybe, maybe her Mother would reconsider…_

_Did it matter that Ripley some days wondered, while on training missions with Kaz, what it would be like to be just a little girl? Just someone's child, not a tool, or an agent, or a worker, just normal? _

_The closest thing that came to normal in her life was Kaz, whom kept her safe from most harm. _

_Kaz showed up, and led her to the testing chambers, a blank look upon his face._

_He left her at the doors, without a single look or a word. The almost seven-year old's heart sank, wasn't he going to give her any advice? Something?_

"_Runt," Kaz said quietly in Czech, "everything depends on today, everything, and everyone is your enemy. The only way to __**win**__…" Kaz growled out menacingly, "is to be the last one alive. Got it?"_

_Ripley nodded, she knew better than to ask questions of matters such as these._

_Kaz always gave her the best advice, he may have been crazy, but he was always smarter than people gave him credit for._

"_**Hodne stesti**__." Kaz said at last, before walking down the hall, leaving Ripley on her own._

_Ripley took a deep breath, and walked through those doors…_

_Little did she know, she opened the doors to a hell…_

_ooooo_

_Ripley didn't even remember what happened, all she knew was __**pain**__. Her entire body was alive with it, all she was aware of was the horrible, splitting pain of her entire left side, and a warm, sticky puddle of red pooling beneath her prone form as it lay on the floor._

_Turning her head even slightly, sent searing pain to her injured side, she coughed… And tasted a salty, coppery taste... Ripley could see the outline of white bone, as it stuck out of her where her hip had broken…._

_She was vaguely aware of two arguing voices…_

"_Nechte ji! Nechceme drzet bezcenny selhani zde!" Said her Mother._

" _Pak ji na me!" Kaz shot back, "Musim provicit sve dovednosti operaci nejak ne?"_

"_Pokuta." Mother answered coldly to Kaz, "Vem si to potom."_

_Ripley couldn't remember much after that, only of Kaz picking her limp body off the floor and saying something she could no longer remember…_

_But as her brother took her away from that room, Ripley saw her Mother's face, the woman's disapproving gaze… And the little girl remembered her Mother staring down at her with the same, disapproving glare from her vantage point in the observers' box. _

_That's when Ripley knew, without a doubt, that she wasn't __**ever**__ going to be the apple of her Mother's eye. Nothing she ever did would be good enough…_

_Those were the last things on Ripley's mind before she blacked out… Kaz's soft reassurances echoing in her ears…_

_End Flashback…_

qqqqqqq

Ripley had survived, of course, Kaz had been a regular genius with the way he'd stitched her insides back together before she'd bled to death and patched together her bones somehow.

Hell, Ripley knew what it was to be the biggest disappointment to someone you looked up to. Though now that she looked at it, in hindsight, the teen knew that her Mother was been the biggest bitch on the face of the planet.

Ripley found that it was far better to not give the chance to be disappointed. She'd set herself up for many a heartbreak when it came to her Mother, who did… Ripley decided not to think about it, and twitched a little as she observed the waiting Mothers look at Mr. Gru adoringly.

The man looked nervous, looked as if he was trying to shrink away from their adoring gazes.

Ripley pushed aside her depressing thoughts, and snickered to herself…

Hey, it didn't do her any good to dwell on bad thoughts right?

OOOOOO

_Directly After Dance Class Ended…_

Mr. Gru was in a real hurry to get out of there, as Margo, Edith and Agnes changed in the back rooms.

Ripley was waiting outside the door, not really wishing to be mobbed by the small children, or their mothers…

"Well, well, didn't know they let freaks in." Came a familiar, female voice that Ripley did _not_ want to hear again.

"What the _fuck_,do you want Melanie?" Ripley scowled at her red-haired school adversary, who was one of many.

"Don't be so hostile," the other teen said with a strutting flair, showing off her near-sluttish clothes, "you might just get in trouble for it."

"Is that a threat?" Ripley questioned coldly with a raised eyebrow.

"Depends," Melanie said as she got up in Ripley's face, "we go here to learn how to dance," the red-head gestured to the Hip Hop Studio next to the Ballet Studio, "and we don't appreciate seeing ugly freaks when we try to relax afterwards, get the picture?"

"You couldn't dance for peanuts." Ripley smirked evilly.

"What?" The girls behind their ringleader indignant voices shrieked.

"You heard me, I bet you couldn't dance for freaking peanuts." Ripley smirked as an enraged look crossed Melanie Neille's face.

"Oh yeah?" Melanie had a venomous look, "who are you to talk? You don't even take lessons, I bet _you_ can't even dance!"

"Yeah?" Ripley scoffed, "that a challenge?"

"Yeah!" Delilah, one of Melanie's clones, "we have a CD player right here!"

It was a Dance Off…

Ripley smirked, this was going to be good…

OOOOOO

'_Okay,'_ Ripley thought to herself as Melanie just danced her routine to Britney's, 'I'm a Slave 4 U', on the sidewalk, _'so all she's doing is a basic pole dance without a pole?'_

"I correct myself," Ripley said sarcastically, "you don't dance for peanuts, you dance for customers. Professional pole dancers and strippers would be seriously slapping a ho, that being you, for making a mockery of their profession."

"That's called dancing!" Melanie's enraged yell attracted the attention of several onlookers, and a few perverts…

"Noooo…" Ripley said as if talking to a stupid person, "_that_ was flashing your barely-covered pussy at the onlooking crowd, and humping the air. Hell, you're not even doing the air hump right, you might as well just go naked and grab someone to fuck with in front of everyone and just call that shit dancing!"

"What?" Melanie tried to rein in her cool, "you think you can do better with that flat chest of yours?"

It wasn't the comment that pissed Ripley off, but the tone in her voice.

That girl was so cruisin' for a bruisin'…

"At least I'm not ninty-percent plastic." Ripley said as she fished out her CD from her backpack and put it in the CD player.

And the song began to play…

"_You're the chosen one,  
__On a mission!..."_

It was Handz Up, the Stanton Warriors remix.

And with those first few notes, Ripley began to dance…

But, the vanilla hip hop moves bored her several moves into the song, so the one-eyed teen decided to kick it up a notch…

So Ripley performed a windmill flare, and proceeded to breakdance her heart out.

The one –eyed teen didn't even notice as Mr. Gru, Margo, Edith, and Agnes had stepped out of the Ballet Studio, and had their attention drawn to the loud music playing. Only to start watching in surprise at Ripley twisting, flipping and stepping her heart out to the beat of the music.

"_When I stand up, you sit down!  
__In this life, and I wear the crown!"_

Suddenly, Ripley was in the air, flipping like mad, landing in a freeze that if done wrong, could've broken the arm she used to support her landing. Half a second later, she was moving again, peppering her routine with several other well known dance moves, among which included a jerky, hip hop version of the moonwalk.

All the while with Margo wondering how Ripley could bend and spin like that… Heck, a lot of those moves involved Ripley leaping into the air…

When the song ended, several people had to pick up their metaphorical jaws off the sidewalk. Ripley ended her dance form, butt-kicking on one knee, with both her middle fingers out held in front of her in a rude gesture, smiling triumphantly.

Before anyone could say a word, Ripley removed her burned CD from the player and walked away.

"Oh and one more thing," Ripley stopped for a moment as she looked back at the humiliated and out-danced bimbo, "at least my chest'll be natural, Miss Boob-Job."

Ripley left the sputtering girl among the dissipating spectators, thinking to herself, _'yeah, you don't fuck with this, bitch.'_ Before turning around to stare into the faces of Margo, Edith, Agnes and Mr. Gru.

"WHOA!" Edith was the first to speak, "you've gotta teach me that!"

"You never said you could dance." Margo said as they were herded back to Mr. Gru's overtly large, and super obvious armored car.

"You never asked." Ripley said with a self-satisfied smirk.

The girls could vaguely hear Mr. Gru muttering, "dey call _dat_ dahn-ceeng?"

"Well, I don't see you busting out any Michael Jacksons', Simon Cowell." Ripley shot back.

"Shut eet." Mr. Gru retreated from the conversation, having the feeling that he wasn't going to win.

Ripley stuck her tongue out at the man, in too much of a good mood to say anything truly venomous…

OOOOO

_Later…_

"Alright," Mr. Gru said as he descended from the top of the vehicle to where the four girls were sitting in the lower chamber of the armored vehicle, "our furst customer eez a man, named Vector."

"But he's a V." Margo said with a 'like duh' tone, "You know, we're supposed to start with the A's, then we go the B's, then we go to the-" As Margo semi-lectured, Mr. Gru rudely made the 'blah, blah, blah,' motion with his mouth.

"Yes! Yes, I vent to kindergarten, I know how dee alphabet works," Mr. Gru interrupted Margo as he punched a button on the small keypad, thus opening the door with a long-suffered sigh.

Margo noticed Ripley's blank look return, and sighed. Margo hated it when Ripley did that, it always made her hard to read.

As the four stepped out of the conspicuous vehicle, Mr. Gru spoke.

"I, I was just thinkeeng, dat it might be nice, to deliver Mr. Vector's furst, dat eez all."

Margo didn't even bother raising a disbelieving eyebrow, then she and her sisters, plus Ripley, stepped through the sliding wall of Mr. Vector's home.

"Ah, girls, welcome back to the fortress of Vector-tude." Vector laughed at his own joke.

Margo observed Ripley twitch violently as she was assisting Agnes in pulling the cookie wagon, but the older girl didn't do anything.

"You got my cookies for me?" Vector asked as he followed the four inside, and the automatic door shut behind them.

Once in what looked like some pseudo-futuristic kitchen type room, the real sale took place.

"Four boxes of Minty Mints, two Toffee Totes, two Caramel Clumpies, and fifteen boxes of Coco-Nutties." Margo tallied up his cookie order as the orange clad monstrosity emptied one of the boxes into a clear bowl.

"Exactly," Vector said turning around to face them, trying to sound 'cool.' "I'd like to see somebody else order that many cookies, not likely. Name one person who ordered more cookies than me."

Ripley twitched violently when the man leaned against the countertop and threw his head back for a second, it just disturbed her.

'_Is he trying to scar our virgin minds forever?'_ Thought a thoroughly disturbed Ripley.

"That'll be fifty-two dollars," Margo stated curtly.

"Right." Vector then took out money from the pouch around his waist and began to count it out.

If Ripley had been any other kid, she would have never heard the soft clicking. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted, get this, cookie robots. It was easy to put together really, Ripley considered herself rather perceptive to these kinds of things, but she decided to say nothing as the Cookie Robots disappeared behind the counter.

As Vector counted out the cookie payment, Agnes looked at his outfit and asked the question that all four had been _dying_ to ask.

"Why are you wearing pajamas?" The five-year old asked.

"Chh, puh! These aren't pajamas!" Vector said, "this is a warm-up suit."

"What are you warming up for?" Edith asked curiously.

"Stuff." Vector answered unhelpfully, while doing what looked like aerobics.

"What sort of stuff?" Margo said with that look she gave Mr. Gru all the time.

"Super cool stuff you wouldn't understand." Vector shot back, trying to end the discussion.

"Like sleeping?" Agnes said cutely.

"They ARE NOT PAJAMAS!" Vector looked annoyed at the little girl's unhelpful argument.

Ripley couldn't help it, she fell to the floor laughing obnoxiously…

OOOOO

When the girls left the geeky man's house, Ripley resumed her laughter, with mirthful tears in her eye.

"What's so funny?" Margo asked the teen.

"No- nuth- nothing…" Ripley said between giggles, trying to stop laughing, failing miserably, "AHAHAHHHAHAHAH!"

A few seconds later, when Ripley had regained composure, the girls noticed that Mr. Gru wasn't at the car. Where was he-?

Suddenly, Mr. Gru came bounding out of the front door of Vector's home, in… Smiley face boxers?

Two of the yellow people-things followed him, toted between them a tube with a ray guy in it?

They all but ran into the armored vehicle, at the open door of the car Mr. Gru stopped.

"Hahhah! Hah hah hah!" He pointed to Vector's house and danced dorkily, "We deed it! Come on gurls let's go."

Entering the car and sitting down, Ripley couldn't hold it in anymore.

She smacked her head face-down on the table, and beat it with her fist as she laughed and laughed and laughed…

Mr. Gru's and his helpers' attentions briefly went to the laughing teen.

"S- ss- smiley faces?" Ripley choked out between laughs, "really?"

But Mr. Gru was in too good of a mood to retort at the moment, as all five of them, minus the minions, moved to sit up at the top level of the vehicle.

As they drove away from the suburbs, Ripley had regained her composure and poked fun at Mr. Gru, who had, in his triumphant mood, forgotten to put his pants back on.

"Sooooo, old man..." Ripley started with a creeping grin.

"I AM NAWT OLD!" The bald man shot back defensively.

"Don't old people lose their hair?" Agnes supplied.

"Yeah…" Edith agreed.

Mr. Gru glared at the four briefly before turning his attention back to the road, but after a few moments of silence…

"So, smiley face boxers, no pants, two helpers, another guy's house…" Ripley listed off several circumstances, then waggled her visible eyebrow suggestively, "some kinky, closet fetish you're not telling us about old man?"

Of course, the only one who remotely understood the jab was Margo, who hadn't learned to appreciate perverse humor yet...

"Nu- DAAAWWW!" Mr. Gru looked as if he'd had some BAAAAAD images in his head, "deed nawt NEED dat image t'ank you very much!"

Edith and Agnes just looked confused.

"What's a fetish?" Edith asked curiously, looking confused.

Ripley cracked up again, and soon quieted as they neared the pier…

Then Agnes screamed.

* * *

A/N: Okay, this seems like a good place to stop. See? I gave you a flashback for Ripley, yeah go ahead guess, I really want to see what you guys are thinking is going to happen next. Anyways, I ache like heck for reasons mentioned in my first author's notes. Anyways, yes Ripley can breakdance, don't complain, it was either that or sexing it up like the Glee(TV show) kids did in the Britney/Brittany episode, which Ripley is actually perfectly capable of, she just chooses not to do it. Besides it also stems from my want to be able to dance anything without looking like a one-legged chicken looking for its other leg. I have always wanted to be able to dance, or do those cool, obscure sports like free-running or karate, but I've faced life, I'm too fat , and about as graceful as a rhino on stilts. So anyways, please review and tell me what you guys think, as for my breakdancing scene, use your imaginations, personally that scene was inspired by the 2010 break dance competition video on youtube to the song I mentioned.

Yep, I'm proud of myself, eleven pages and with my aching back and neck, I'm proud of myself. And as for that last joke at the end there, don't anyone say they didn't think it. We all have that dark little perverted side that resides within us all. Just to say, I do NOT support the crack pairing of Gru and Vector, or Gru and any of the canon characters in the Despicable Me movie. And if anyone even dares suggest pedo relationship between Ripley and Gru, I will personally find where you live and send my muses, Rose and Sadie, to slap the stupid right outta you!

**PLZ REVIEW!**


	7. Funland Wonderland &A Dapper Dan Stalker

Despicably Me

Disclaimer: I own nothing 'cept my OC's.

A/N: Okay ya'll, here I am again. I'm feeling a little better and I'm ON A ROLL! Your reviews are greatly appreciated! I love you all my faithful readers and reviewers! REVIEW PLEASE! WOOOOOO! ;)

* * *

Chapter 6: Funland Wonderland and a Dapper Dan Stalker

Now, mind you, Ripley had the tendency to space out, Margo knew that…

So this was the part of the conversation Ripley didn't catch…

"But, what about the other people who ordered cookies?" Margo asked Mr. Gru as he drove.

"Life eez full of disappointments," Mr. Gru the snickered to himself, "for some people…"

Though Ripley did catch that part, and rolled her eyes in response, heck did she know that…

Agnes screamed, causing Mr. Gru to swerve the vehicle on the road, knocking an old fisherman into the water below before Mr. Gru finally righted the vehicle on the road.

"Don't," Mr. Gru said as if he'd nearly had a heart attack, "do dat."

"What?" Ripley cried out dramatically, "has the time come? The zombie apocalypse where life becomes a free-for-all? At last?"

"Super Silly Funland!" Agnes exclaimed excitedly pointed towards the pier. "Can we go? Pleeeeeaaase?"

"No." Mr. Gru answered boredly.

"But we've never been," Edith supplied, "and it's the funnest place on Earth!"

"Don't care." Mr. Gru's bored and tired tone didn't change.

"Please," Margo asked, "we- we'll never ask for anything else, ever again, please?"

"Please, come on!" It was Agnes's cute voice.

"Please? Please?" Edith said at the same time as her sisters.

Now, Ripley didn't, by principle go to fairs, or carnivals, or circuses, for several reasons, one of them being most of them were filled to the brim with cheap stuff that's overpriced, next reason was that the game booths were almost _always_ rigged. The last reason she hated those places were, personal, they brought up… Memories that Ripley didn't wish to dwell on…

But she saw the three girls whom… Became like her family… Somehow… Ripley really wasn't sure why she gave a crap really…

But she just couldn't, not back them up could she?

"Come on, please?" Ripley supplied at the same time Margo, Edith and Agnes pleaded with Mr. Gru.

"Liiiightbulb." Mr. Gru said to himself.

OOOOOOOOO

_At Super Silly Funland…_

Margo could not believe it, they were really here.

Sure it was no Disney World, but it was the talk and hangout of nearly every kid in school. Their parents would take them here, they would be here and have the most fun.

Living at the Orphanage, Margo and her sisters had never had that chance to go, not with Miss Hattie lording their unsatisfactory cookie sales over their heads. Their weekends were spent going door-to-door selling cookies to near-unresponsive customers, walking farther and farther every day.

Though as much as Ripley complained, Margo noticed that the older girl never complained about her sore legs, blisters, or aching feet. Sometimes, Margo wondered what went on inside the one-eyed teen's mind whenever Miss Hattie chewed them all out.

But Margo was excited, even more so as Edith and Agnes climbed into the roller coaster seat, and Ripley sat in the second car behind them…

Some days, Margo wondered why Ripley was always so quiet…

qqqqq

Ripley said nothing.

She knew, if she even opened her big, fat mouth, she'd just rain on Margo, Edith and Agnes's parade. That was the last thing Ripley wanted to do, they were rarely so happy.

Ripley wanted it to last…

She observed Mr. Gru, moving to walk back to the park entrance…

Ripley was, by nature, not a stupid person, she wouldn't be alive otherwise. She knew, he was moving to abandon them…

Yet, Ripley couldn't find it in herself to be angry, it wasn't as if she expected him to be a good parent, or a parent at all.

Ripley knew, that's how adults worked, that was how the whole _freaking _world, fucking worked, dammit.

Ripley wasn't angry for herself, she knew that she'd never have a home. She'd long stopped hoping for a savior in the form of parents, but what made her angry, what made her like her old namesake… Margo, Edith and Agnes, they would be heartbroken…

Though the villain had given no indication of possessing a single parental bone in his body…

Villain, that word left almost as bitter a taste as the word 'Mother' did. They were just like agents, just an over-glorified title for assholes who have degrees to say they do illegal things professionally.

Ripley, none the less, found herself remembering her Mother's abandonment, and rubbed at the bullet scar through her shirt absently.

Then the teen in the striped shirt gripped Mr. Gru's shoulder and said, "uh, sorry dude, but they can't ride without an adult."

Reluctantly, Mr. Gru sat in the coaster car behind Ripley's…

'_More difficult to get rid of than you thought, eh old man?'_ Thought Ripley, trying to move out of the sudden melancholy anger that had infected her mood. Ripley needed sarcasm, she didn't need to think about that shit here, she needed to get out of the funk she'd fallen in.

Ripley knew that dwelling on the past was nothing but a waste of time, as much as it haunts you, life goes on, with or without you. Ripley just dealt with whatever crappy hand she was dealt and went with it.

But then again…

The roller coaster started to make its descent…

Margo, Edith and Agnes's excited screams comforted Ripley, Mr. Gru's nauseous yells entertained her, and the roller coaster felt reminded her of Kaz's arms, rocking her to sleep that one time…

So Ripley decided to just enjoy the ride…

qqqqq

Agnes was having the time of her life.

The roller coaster was the most fun she'd had in her life! She was so happy that Mr. Gru had taken then all here.

Margo had helped her out of the roller coaster, and Agnes bounded forward excitedly as Ripley trailed close behind them, followed by a clearly

Then she spotted it.

"Aah! Oh my gosh! Look at that fluffy unicorn!" Agnes cried out, pointing to the fluffy unicorn plushie hanging among the game stall prizes, "he's so fluffy I'm gonna die!"

"You've gotta let us play for it." Margo said as Edith dragged Mr. Gru by the hand towards the 'Space Killer' stall.

"Oh, no," Mr. Gru said quietly, "no, no, no, no…"

"Come on!" Agnes pleaded cutely.

Mr. Gru sighed, then addressed the red-haired teen manning the booth, "how much for the fluffy unicorn?"

"Oh, huh, huh, huh," The man laughed pridefully, "well it's not, for sale, now all you gotta do, to win it, is knock down that little spaceship there, it's easy."

Mr. Gru handed him a dollar, the game booth teen smirked, and pressed the button.

Margo, Edith and Agnes then took their places at the three seats, Ripley watched with her usual unreadable expression.

Mr. Gru ignored the game boredly, thinking to his schemes, of when he'd get home to finally convince Mr. Perkins to give him that loan. Then he would be the Number One Villain again, not that fool Vector…

The villain noticed the visible blue eye of the thirteen year old Ripley observing him again with an unreadable expression. Sometimes he wondered, what was the point of covering up one of your eyes?

'_Teenagers.'_ Mr. Gru dismissed mentally.

The machine above the 'Space Killer' game beeped, and flashed a 'you lose' message at the players, and Mr. Gru began to walk away, finally…

"Again!" Agnes cried.

"Wait!" Margo called after Mr. Gru.

"Aw, come on, one more time." Edith said as she ran around to stand in front of Mr. Gru.

"Just one more?" Asked Agnes with big doe eyes, "I acciden'ally closed my eyes."

Mr. Gru slapped another dollar into the teen's hand, and the man pressed the button again.

All three girls tried their hardest to hit the little space ship target, and surprise, surprise, Agnes was the one who hit it…

"Yeah! That was cool!" Edith exclaimed in excitement.

Margo cheered for Agnes.

"I hit it! I hit it!" Agnes cheered happily.

"Woohoo!" Margo whooped.

Then the booth flashed, 'you lose.'

Ripley had fully expected that to be the end of it, she knew these things were rip offs anyway, and she doubted that Mr. Gru would pay for another game… Agnes would be heartbroken and the unicorn would forever taunt small children with things they cannot have… Well, life was full of disappointments anyways, what was one more?

But then Mr. Gru spoke up, "whoa, whoa, whoa, what was dat?" The villain faced the man who calmly sipped at the soda that would only make his teeth rot faster and his pot-belly grow bigger, "she hit dat, I saw dat weeth my own eyes."

"Hey buddy, lemme explain something to you," the red-headed man foolishly placed a hand on the Villain's shoulder and pointed to the tin spaceship target, "ya see that little tin space ship? Ya see how it's _not_ knocked over? You know what that means professor? It means, you don't get the _uneecorn_, owwww!" He poked Gru in the chest emphatically.

Looking down at Agnes, "awwww, somebody's got a frowny face, better luck next time."

Had Ripley not been surrounded by people, with the possibility of cops, she would've castrated the man. She vowed that if she ever met him in a dark alley… Bad things… Gory, grisly things…

"Okay, my torn." Mr. Gru said grimly after looking at Agnes's pleading face for a moment, then slapped another dollar into the smug man's hand and walked a short distance from the stall.

Suddenly, he smirked, and pulled out what looked like a large heat-ray gun. It gathered power, the red-haired teen manning the booth ducked as Mr. Gru aimed, then pulled the trigger.

**BOOM!**

A huge hole had been blown into the booth, and melted pieces of tin and plastic dripped down to sizzle hotly on the pier.

"Knocked ooo-var!" Mr. Gru declared triumphantly.

Agnes clutched her prize as they five walked away from the decimated booth, Ripley giggled when she noticed that the teen had lost a _lot _of hair.

"It's so fluffy!" Agnes called out dramatically.

"That, was awesome." Margo said amazedly.

"That was _so_ cool!" Edith said once again.

"Let's go play another game!" Agnes exclaimed excitedly.

Ripley observed Mr. Gru smile, just a bit, as he followed them. Ripley decided to trail behind the four, feeling, just a little bit apprehensive…

For a moment, Ripley felt kind of like an intruder, she didn't like the feeling at all.

As the five of them went from booth to booth, Ripley stayed in the background, content to watch. She preferred it that way honestly…

Until they came to a 'Shooting Galley', one of the ones that provided guns that shot BB pellets, made to look like one of those really, old-fashioned guns that you had to cock back and had to load bullet by bullet. Like back in the old west…

"You vant to play _dat_ game?" Mr. Gru had noticed the teen staring at the booth as they walked by.

"So what if I do?" Ripley shot back defensively, she'd had enough people trying to pin her as a lunatic thank you very much!

"Just say-eeng dat I doubt a leetle gurl like you know 'ow to 'andle a gawn." Mr. Gru answered, a little smugly. "Eeven eef eet's a fake."

Ripley scowled then slapped a five dollar bill onto the table from her pocket, and growled to the woman manning the booth, "set me up."

Having a loaded gun, fake or not, in her hand felt familiar to Ripley, like a comfortable shoe.

"Now," the girl at the booth addressed Ripley like she was stupid, "you know the rules of a shooting gallery right? You don't aim it at anythin' but the targets, and ya hold it like-"

"Yeah I know," Ripley scowled as she snatched the loaded weapon and cocked it at the targets, "just start the f-, damn machine!"

The woman scowled, then pressed the button before saying, "ya got six shots."

In a mere moment, Ripley was in the zone.

**BANG!**

She'd shot one of the smallest moving targets...

**BANG!**

Another target, not as small, but much moving much quicker than the last one had…

**BANG!**

She made a crotch shot at the large tin cowboy, just for fun.

**BANG!**

Another target down, it was as if the world around Ripley had faded…

**BANG!**

She was in the fucking zone…

**BANG!**

And Ripley was fucking badass.

_Click._

Suddenly Ripley's zen-mode was interrupted, and she caught sight of the flabbergasted woman behind the booth.

Ripley, still a bit miffed at her zen-mode being interrupted, slapped down the gallery gun, and flashed a cocky smirk.

"So any prize of the top shelf right?" Ripley's blue eye glinted devilishly.

"Bu- But nobody can h- hit those…" It looked like the woman was having a nervous breakdown.

"I want the bike. The black one, with the red stripe." Ripley pointed to the Commuter/City hybrid bicycle.

"Y- you cheated!" The young woman with her multi-colored hair accused.

"I didn't," Ripley gave a lazy grin, "everyone else just sucks."

"Wait, I know you…" The woman's heavy makeup made her expression seem darker than it was.

"What? Just give my damn bike!" Ripley was getting annoyed now.

"Danielle always talks about a horrible punk-girl in a black beanie who bullies her and her friends, so does Melanie, it's you isn't it? You horrible little bitch!" This girl was really getting on Ripley's last nerve.

"Melanie? The wannabe whore who might as well just go naked and stamp a 'For Free' sign on her back with the way she flirts, struts, and throws that overstuffed boob-job in everyone's faces? Please, bullying is so," Ripley smirked snappishly, "beneath me."

"No she tells me everyday-" The woman was interrupted as Ripley just climbed into the booth and took the bike off the shelf. "Hey!"

"I won, my bike. Back off, or I shave your head Missy." Ripley smiled disturbingly, she'd learned that that was one of the things she and Kaz had in common, they are _meant_ to be feared when they smile. "Who knows, I _do _have clumsy fingers, I could suppose that, they could end up, slipping…"

The woman looked horrified, obviously Melanie and her lackeys had painted Ripley out to be a monster…

'_Fine by me,'_ Ripley thought maliciously, _'they can all go to hell for all I care.'_

If it kept them away from her, she didn't care, Ripley would play this up for as much as she could squeeze out of it.

Margo looked a little disturbed though, so Ripley decided to cut the act short.

"But I'm on a tight schedule today," Ripley stated coolly as she hopped over the booth counter again, "and by the way, Melanie and Danielle? They're a couple of yellow-bellied bloodsuckers, who feast on the pain, tears and misery of everyone they deem unpopular, so…" Ripley paused as she leveled a cold, empty glare at the woman, "since you seem to know them so well, tell them that this year, tell the Neille's that their Ripley says hi. Goodbye, good riddance, yadda, yadda, yadda and all that jazz."

Then Ripley simply walked the next stall, she looked behind her at Edith's awed face, Margo's pensive look, and Agnes's innocent expression. Mr. Gru just observed her with a twitching corner of the mouth.

Ripley raised an eyebrow, "what?"

"That was cool." Edith commented.

"Everything's cool to you." Ripley retorted playfully, adopting a calmer expression and aura.

"School's not." Edith replied.

"Touché." Ripley grinned.

For the rest of the day, Ripley had been perfectly content hanging back and observing. Retreating to her own thoughts, only to be dragged out of them when Edith and Margo dragged her into playing the booth games, or when they all got onto a ride.

And oddly enough, a villain named Felonious Gru, found himself enjoying every minute of it.

"Ice cweam!" Agnes cried out, pointing to the vendor up ahead.

"Can we have some Mr. Gru?" Margo asked him excitedly, abandoning most of her collected pretense.

"Why nawt?" Mr. Gru was suddenly just in a, good mood. So what the heck?

The girl's faces lit up at the mention of ice cream, popcorn, candy, funnel cake, and cotton candy. Lunch had been delicious, burgers all around.

Halfway though, Agnes approached Ripley, who'd been hanging back about ten feet away from them as the group of five migrated from game to game.

"You okay?" Agnes's small hand tugged on Ripley's hoodie sleeve, brushing her wrist.

Another thing, Ripley couldn't stand people touching her, she didn't have an OCD, or a fear of germs, it was just that she associated most physical contact with violence was all. So holding back her 'strike back' reaction was a big chore for her.

The only ones who were mostly exempt from that reaction were Margo, Edith and Agnes, for reasons Ripley could never fathom, or refused to.

"Yeah, Aggie." Ripley ruffled the small girl's hair gently.

"No you're not." Agnes said seriously.

"Yes I am, drop it and enjoy the day kiddo." Ripley answered curtly while trying to herd the small girl back to where Mr. Gru, Edith and Margo were tossing plastic rings.

"You look sad." The little five-year old's doe eyes were seriously putting the cute on…

'_Must… Resist… Cuteness…'_ Ripley thought stalwartly.

"You look wike you do when you're remembering something sad." Agnes stated pointedly.

Ripley raised her visible eyebrow at Agnes, "you're a perceptive little girl, Aggie."

"What's-" Agnes started, then cut herself off as she looked like she was thinking, "here."

The little girl had thrust the unicorn toy Mr. Gru had won for her into Ripley's arms with an innocently concerned look.

"What's this for?" Ripley looked confused, Agnes's mind waved it off as she smiled.

"Unicorns always make me feel better."Agnes reasoned, "so hugging Nixx will make you stop being sad too!"

"Thanks," Ripley smiled and gave the unicorn a small squeeze before handing it back to Agnes, "but he's your unicorn, and besides, I'm not sad anymore, thanks Agnes."

"You're welcome!" Agnes smiled, it made her happy that the older girl wasn't sad anymore, the little girl liked it when all her sisters were happy. Agnes never said it, because, well she never thought that it needed to be said, she considered Ripley like one of her big sisters.

The little girl turned to join Margo and Edith, collecting their prizes at the game booth.

She never saw Ripley's false smile waver, just a little bit…

But Margo noticed Ripley suddenly take on a paranoid glare, as the teen looked around her for some odd reason… As if Ripley thought she was being stalked…

Oh well, maybe it just Margo's imagination…

OOOOOO

It was nearing the end of the day, Mr. Gru was herding the four back to the Funland entrance…

Ripley had not given up her six to eight foot distance between herself and the four laughing people with painted faces and joyous grins.

Somehow, watching them enjoy themselves brought her great joy, but… It brought aches to her chest as well…

It made her think of her older brother Kaz…

She couldn't help but drift back, back when life… Hellish as it was beneath her Mother's thumb, the happiest moments were created by Kaz…

She wheeled her prize alongside her at a leisurely pace-

Then, before Ripley could react, out of the shadows cast by two vacant booth tents, a hand came out and clamped over her mouth, then dragged her into the darkness…

It took Ripley a second to process what was happening, she had been lost in her own thoughts and memories that she had to process where she was.

Then Ripley fought, but her assailant's grip was too strong.

Then she made a grab for her knife, and her assailant let go, she turned to face the tall, bean-pole figure with a war-like snarl on her lips…

Upon seeing the man's face, Ripley knew him…

Looking to be somewhere in his early twenties, the tall man's easy expression and faded Glasgow scars were familiar, and his clothing choice was rather dapper with his light brown dress slacks and black, button-up, pinstriped shirt. His shoes were clearly made for an office, and his shaggy black hair was layered just above his shoulders, framing his glinting blue eyes…

But his face… She recognized that face… But the voice, unmistakable…

"Hiya Runt!" He smiled, showing off his genetically altered canines, from too many experiments gone wrong.

"Kaz?"

* * *

A/N: DUN! DUN! DUUUUUUUUN! Cliffie! Woot! I have gotten my groove back, I am out of my depressing rut and have a good mood! WOOOOT! Yeah, OMG! Kazimir LIVES? More info next time on, 'Despicably Me'! Please review! Tell me what you think of this chappie! REVIEW!

**NOTE:** Glasgow scars – reference to scars left over from a kind of torture technique called giving someone a "Glasgow Smile,"(also referred to as a Chelsea Smile, Glasgow Grin, Chelsea Grin, or an Anna Grin) it involves cutting the victim's face from the edges of their mouth all the way up to their ears. The scars it leaves(if the victim doesn't bleed to death that is) usually resembles a 'smile' , hence the names/titles mentioned.

Dapper Dan – refers to a line in the Annie(a musical, became a movie, look it up if you're really curious) song, "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile."


	8. Living For a Moment

Despicably Me

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.

A/N: AHAHAHAHAH! No explanations for you! You'll find out in the future, this is because… I realized that I've been gravitating towards writing about Ripley again… Sorry 'bout that, anyways, please enjoy the chapter-y goodness! Please review!

**NOTE:** AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Sorry, I just realized that this chap won't explain the burning question in your heads at the moment! I will concentrate on the plot and Gru, Margo, Edith and Agnes for a few chapters… Sorry, but I DO NOT want my OC to take over the story, and so far she is starting to, I will try to redeem myself in future chapters…

**Translation/s:**

"**K certu s tebou... K certu s tebou do pekla, svinsky vam parchante. Diky za to, ze stejne jako kazdy jiny sobecky syn kurva v tomto bezcenny rovine jsoucnost."** = (Czech) Damn you... Damn you to hell, you motherfucking son of a bitch. Thanks for being just like every other selfish son of a fuck in this worthless plane of existence.

"**Hodne stesti s mesicem pan Gru."** = (Czech) Good luck with the moon Mr. Gru.

"**Nenavidem te, sbohem."** = (Czech) I hate you, goodbye.

* * *

Chapter 7: Living in a Moment

To Margo, it had been the _best _day ever.

They'd had dance class, _and _gone to Super Silly Funland.

Edith, Agnes and her had never been to any kind of amusement park before, Super Silly Funland was the talk of so many of the other kids at school, sometimes Margo felt a little embarrassed to have never been there before.

They'd gotten cotton candy, played all sorts of booth games and even Ripley at some point grinned when the older teen thought no-one was looking, but Margo saw it.

It made her feel warm inside.

So engrossed in that warm feeling was Margo, that she didn't even notice the absence of one of their group as she listened to the sound of Agnes's joyful laughter.

"Where's Ripley?" Edith asked, bringing attention to the missing teen.

"Eh?" Mr. Gru seemed to just notice the thirteen-year old's absense, a thoughtful expression crossing his features.

"We should go back for her." Margo said quickly.

"Fricking son of a bleeping hooker!" Came a clearly irate snarl of the teen in question as she practically stomped in their direction.

"Ripley, where were you?" Margo felt compelled to ask as Mr. Gru opened the tank car.

"God damn son of a-!" Ripley stopped and looked at Margo while leaning on the handlebars of her new bike, "oh nothing, nothing important anyways..."

Margo raised an eyebrow, in a way that said, really?

"Seriously, nothing important." Ripley waved her off and clambered into the large tank car behind Edith and Agnes.

But as they sat in their respective seats behind the driver's seat at the top compartment of the tank car, Margo could hear snatches of Ripley's utterly livid mutterings…

"_That son of a… Thinks he… Just walk back into… life… Without telling me he's even… How dare… tell me… be stronger for it? What… damn joke… That stupid, motherf… son of a…"_

Oh well, Margo just hoped that Edith wouldn't be repeating half the cuss words that she was sure Ripley was using, heck Margo didn't even know half of them…

OOOOOO

_A Few Weeks Pass…_

It had been the best month ever for the girls, Edith and Agnes were having a ball. And Mr. Gru seemed to be warming up to them, Margo had even noticed Ripley starting to relax a bit.

It had all began when they heard Mr. Gru talking to what looked like a pink walrus in a suit, as Edith put it anyways. The man had been a really, really fat man, with a scary looking hairdo as well.

He'd said some pretty hurtful things to Mr. Gru, Margo was sure that Ripley understood too, in comparison to Edith and Agnes not really understanding the whole situation.

They'd inspired him to start building that rocket, by offering him that little piggy bank… Then Mr. Gru's, cousins, pitched in with the funding of the rocket project as well.

During that frenzy of renewed enthusiasm, Margo thought she saw Ripley putting in several folded bills as well, when no-one was looking of course.

Margo wondered vaguely where Ripley had gotten the money before quickly deciding to not question it.

It was amazing to watch the adults build that huge rocket, beneath the house no less!

With Edith's many impromptu explorations, the four girls discovered many awe-inspiring rooms beneath the house they currently resided in for the time being.

Ever since the visit to Super Silly Funland, Mr. Gru had been surprising them every step of the way, or at least in Margo and Ripley's cases.

The warm breakfasts, Mr. Gru had turned out to be a pretty good cook.

Games of hide-and-seek, Margo never expected the tall, foreboding man, to actually give in to Agnes's request.

Make believe camping in the living room, it was so much fun, Margo didn't think she'd ever keep that full blown smile off her face.

It felt like, for once in such a long time, they were coming home. Mr. Gru surprising them, Margo never thought that they'd feel like this.

Margo even noticed Ripley, who, beneath her suspicious and edgy exterior, tried to keep herself from smiling or laughing with the four of them, sometimes with little success. Sometimes Ripley's mask of indifference would slip a little, and she would smile, and laugh heartily.

Margo had even noticed Ripley's tendency to playfully annoy Mr. Gru into small, banter-fests. Little by little, Ripley was opening up even more to Margo and her sisters, more so than she already was.

The rocket was close to completion, Mr. Gru would be going to the moon soon, and the day of the ballet recital drew ever closer.

Ever nearing the ballet recital, dance practices grew slightly more frequent, but Mr. Gru didn't seem to mind.

Margo watched Edith jump excitedly as they passed stores on the way to the tank car, and Agnes smile up at Mr. Gru adoringly.

Then she watched Ripley, slipping into that pensive stare, that questioning look the teen's face took on when she was thinking deep thoughts.

When they were both in the kitchen, Margo decided to ask Ripley what was bugging her.

"What's wrong?" Margo asked.

Ripley was quiet for a moment, then she spoke her words evenly, "It's nothing."

"No," Margo shot back, "no it's not 'nothing', something's bugging you and I want to know what it is."

"Always straight and to the point eh Margo?" Ripley gave a little laugh.

Margo looked at the thirteen-year old intently.

"Yeah," Ripley smiled a little, Margo never knew that that smile could look sad until she'd met Ripley, "look it's just me being my angsty teenager self okay? Besides, I don't want to rain on your parade, go enjoy yourself."

"Not without you I'm not." Margo grabbed the teen's hand and all but dragged her out of the kitchen.

Margo, Edith, Agnes and Ripley too, were enjoying their new home, though there were those quiet moments where the girls, minus Agnes would talk… Late into the night, they'd voice their respective worries and thoughts…

Though Edith and Margo could tell, Ripley had thoughts that she'd never share with them…

Until the day, Ripley had engaged Mr. Gru in yet another playful banter, annoying the villain to almost-literal pieces…

Then the teen had gone silent, as Agnes distracted Mr. Gru with her unicorn, the one from the fair, Nix.

Ripley burst out laughing, she just threw her head back and laughed loudly, and didn't stop until there were tears were streaming from her visible eye. The teen had even continued laughing even after she'd fallen off her chair, and only stopped when Mr. Gru raised a confused eyebrow at her.

Ripley had seemed oddly relaxed to Margo as the four of them got ready for bed.

But before Margo could question and with Edith's help, prod a few answers out of Ripley about the teen's oddly laid-back, and frankly _open_ behavior, Mr. Gru came in to check on them.

Margo, Edith and Agnes were running around, completely hyper despite the long day, Ripley decided to act hyper just for the hell of it.

"Did joo brush your teeth," Mr. Gru questioned Agnes, "let me smell, let me smell…"

"Haaahh." Agnes gave a huge breath into the long-nosed villain's face.

"You did nawt!" Mr. Gru said upon smelling the five-year old's bad breath, before being pelted in the face by a flying Edith.

A laughing Edith was picked up and held by the ankle by Mr. Gru.

"Put on your PJ's! Hold steell." He said as he tried to maneuver a wriggling Edith to her bed, "seriously- seriously, dis eez beddy, bye time, right now, I'm nawt keeddeeng around." He shot a look at a running Margo. "I mean eet."

"But we're not tired!" Edith called after the man.

"Well I am tired." Mr. Gru took another two steps towards the door.

"Just think old man," Ripley teased as she tried to stand on her head, "you'll have to deal with at least thirteen more years of this."

"I am nawt OLD!" Mr. Gru shot back, completely ignoring the rest of the teen's comment.

"Whatever stops the tears at night, old man, whatever stops the tears." Ripley smirked devilishly.

"Can you read us a bedtime story?" Agnes requested as she pulled out a familiar storybook.

"Yeah, would you read us a bedtime story?" Ripley mocked cutely.

"Don't start." Mr. Gru warned the teen, but after some cute pleading on Agnes's part, he gave in to her request.

"Three little kittens love to play, they had fun in dee sun all day…" Mr. Gru read after the finger puppet kittens had been explained, "wow, dis eez garbage, you actually like dis?"

Agnes frowns, the shoved his shoulder, "keep reading."

"Fine, fine, Then their mother came out and said, 'Time for kittens to go to bed.'  
Three little kittens started to bawl, 'Mommy, we're not tired at all!'  
Their mother smiled and said with a purr, 'Fine, but at least you should brush your fur.'" Mr. Gru seemed to be trying to stay annoyed a few lines in, Ripley had noticed, the teen was sure that Margo noticed too...

Mr. Gru picked up the little brush provided by the book and brushed the three finger puppets briefly.

"Three little kittens with fur all brushed, said, 'We can't sleep. We feel too rushed!'" Mr. Gru's voice sounded a little less annoyed, "Their mother replied with a voice like silk, 'Fine, but at least you should drink your milk.'"

"Now make them drink the milk." Agnes said, pointing to the book tiredly.

He moved the finger puppets to the milk bowl picture, one by one, and sound of the four girls yawns permeated the air, followed by Mr. Gru's own.

"Three little kittens with milk all gone, rubbed their eyes and started to yawn." Mr. Gru the inter-punctuated the story once again with another 'I'm really not likeeng dis,' comment.

"'We can't sleep. We can't even try!' Then their mother sang a lullaby." But he kept reading, Edith was the only one who saw that odd, unidentifiable expression cross Ripley's features.

"'Good night, kittens, close your eyes. Sleep in peace until you rise. Though while you sleep, we are apart… your mommy loves you with all her heart.'" With that said, his voice seemed, to crack a little.

Ripley was already tucked beneath her blanket, glad that she wasn't the one reading.

That line seemed to... Strike a nerve with Mr. Gru, Ripley simply faced the wall and pretended to be asleep...

'_Something hurts, doesn't it old man?' _Thought Ripley quietly as she listened to him get up quickly, startling Margo, Edith and Agnes, whom were finally falling asleep, into wakefulness.

"Aren't you gonna kiss us goodnight?" Agnes questioned Mr. Gru as he got to the door.

"No, dere, dere vill be no hugs, or keesses, or huggeeng." With those words, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Forget it Agnes," Margo said to the littlest girl, "he'll never kiss us goodnight."

"I like him, he's nice..." Agnes said after some thought.

"But scary..." Edith added.

"Like Santa." Agnes finished with a little grin, before dropping off to sleep.

"Ripley, what do you think?" Edith questioned the silent teen, only to be greeted with silence.

"Go to sleep Edith." Margo muttered quietly as she drifted off...

But Edith didn't sleep, she looked over at Ripley's bombshell bed, and could vaguely make out the silhouette of a silent Ripley, half-sitting up in a position that just looked uncomfortable, pressing an ear against the wall...

Ripley remained like this for at least three minutes, Edith then realized that Margo had fallen asleep after Agnes...

Edith remained uncharacteristically silent.

Ripley silhouette then sank down into her bombshell bed, almost like she just collapsed. The teen then seemed to cocoon herself in the covers, and laid still...

Edith wanted to ask, but...

Was it the blonde's imagination, or did that near silent choking sound... Sound something akin to a sob?

But something... Like a heavy weight, descended on the eight-year old's chest, and she remained silent...

Edith found herself not wanting to know...

So the blonde girl snuggled into the soft comfort of her bed, and ignored the wandering thoughts that swam rampant in her brain...

The way Ripley was acting, it was expected of her. Edith knew that the older girl had been returned many times, vaguely, Edith wondered if Ripley was suspecting something...

But...

No, they were going to have a home _here_, who cared if there weren't goodnight hugs or kisses? This would be the home for all four of them. It _would _stay that way...

Deep down, Edith prayed that those insistences would be enough...

Uneasily, the blonde fell asleep, at last...

But upon dreaming of freeze rays and camping trips in the living room, Edith smiled in her sleep...

No-one noticed Ripley slip out the room, or through the kitchen window...

No-one noticed her slip back in before sunrise, looking more haggard, and annoyed, than ever... But ultimately still poking fun at Mr. Gru, spurring along childish behaviour within Margo, Edith and Agnes, and just acting out the part of a typical, angst-and-hormone-ridden teen...

Ripley was sure no-one noticed...

No-one except Margo and Edith that is...

But all stayed silent, and they all decided to live in the moment, because maybe if they wished and believed hard enough...

The moment would last forever...

OOOOOOO

_Two Weeks Before the Recital..._

They were all having a tea party.

A freaking tea party, at least, that was the way a disgruntled Ripley put it. But the girls were enjoying themselves, Mr. Gru had even baked them cookies!

Even Ripley couldn't find fault in that, she _loved_ chocolate chip cookies...

"Now we peeck up our cups," Mr. Gru instructed the girls with a little grin, "and we cleenk dem together. Clink. Don't forget dee clinkeeng."

Agnes was joyful, Margo was having fun, and even the macabre Edith was having a ball, even with the activity being so girly...

Ripley just let her mouth twitch up into a grin and clinked her cup of 'tea'.

Then Mr. Gru left the room, the sound of a doorbell calling him.

"Keep clinkeeng." Mr. Gru assured the four girls that he'd be back.

He left the room.

Not even Ripley could bring herself to give notice to that niggling paranoia that lurked just below the surface of her thoughts.

No, she was happy... Why ruin it? Maybe this would last, maybe, maybe this was the finish line...

Ripley smiled and munched into _another_ chocolate chip cookie, practically moaning at the heavenly flavour.

"Hell, the old man can cook!" Ripley declared emphatically.

"Yeah! The cookies are great!" Edith added as she downed some juice from her teacup, "clink."

"Nix and me agree!" Agnes piped up happily.

"Well you're certainly cheerful today." Margo commented with a small grin.

"Hey!" Ripley protested, "cheerful? No, of course not. Energetic? Yes, yes I am."

"That's why you shouldn't be given sugar..." Margo teased.

"Neither should Edith and Agnes, but look at 'em." Ripley swept her hand in the girls' directions, "who could say no to those faces?"

"I could think of a few." Margo answered.

"I can too," Ripley said plainly, the smirked evilly, "but most of them are on my list."

"Dare I ask?" Margo said with a grin and a raised eyebrow.

"What's your list?" Edith and Agnes asked in near-unison.

"Come closer," Ripley motioned for the girls to lean in closer to her, the three leaned forward eagerly...

Ripley looked at the windows, then back at the doorway...

"It's a secret." Ripley said, then she burst out laughing.

"Awwwww!" Edith said, "tell us!"

"Pweasssse?" Agnes pleaded.

"Seriously?" Margo laughed, "come on!"

"Nope." Ripley quipped, then stuck out her tongue at Edith, who mimicked the gesture accompanied by a smirking grin.

"Gurls..." Mr. Gru's voice was soft, softer than usual.

"Mr. Gru!" Agnes was suddenly attached to his leg like a koala once again, "we're clinking are teacups, see?"

It was an odd expression that passed his face, a cross between guilt and sadness, then it faded into a cold frown...

"You gurls need to gather your t'ings." Mr. Gru said curtly.

"Are we going on a trip?" Edith asked excitedly.

Suddenly, before Mr. Gru could say anything, Edith and Agnes were already dragging Margo out of the room and down the hall to their room...

Ripley hadn't even gotten up from the abandoned tea party...

"Deedn't I say-" Mr. Gru started, at least trying to sound cold, but ceased speaking to dodge when the teen threw an empty, plastic teapot at his head.

Ripley ignored him, and finished the orange juice in her teacup, then set it down. The teen got up and walked towards Mr. Gru and the archway...

She stopped right next to him, and stared at him from the corner of her blue eye and spoke quietly, "K certu s tebou... K certu s tebou do pekla, svinsky vam parchante. Diky za to, ze stejne jako kazdy jiny sobecky syn kurva v tomto bezcenny rovine jsoucnost."

One didn't have to understand what Ripley was saying to hear the bitterness in her voice, she already knew where Mr. Gru was sending them.

"Now-" Mr. Gru tried to start, only to have the teen cut him off loudly.

"Hodne stesti s mesicem pan Gru." Ripley moved past him towards where Margo, Edith and Agnes had run off to, she her head high, and her shoulders squared proudly. "Nenavidem te, sbohem."

And with those words, Ripley walked forward to join Margo, Edith and Agnes in packing their belongings...

The thing is, whenever Ripley used Czech, she only spoke it when she wanted to say whatever-the-hell she wanted and leave the recipients wondering what the hell she just said.

It was a far better alternative than crying or yelling...

Or at least it would have been, had Gru not been fluent in several European languages, one of which...

Was Czech...

OOOOOO

Margo felt betrayed, before she'd even been able to process her thoughts on Mr. Gru's request, no order, to pack their things they were at the door.

Staring into the face of Ms. Hattie, the death of her and her sisters' childhoods.

Mr. Gru was sending them back, he was sending them back...

Margo could vaguely wonder what she did wrong, and feel her chest hurt a little... No, that statement was wrong, it hurt a lot.

The brunette looked to Ripley for support, only to be greeted by a silent, empty gaze on the teen's gaze. Ripley had always had her things packed, it had only been a matter of shouldering her backpack and duffel.

Agnes's pleading with Mr. Gru broke Margo's heart, Edith was frowning and pouting quietly...

Ripley just climbed into the car without a word, as if she were deaf to the world around her.

"Thanks Mr. Gru," Margo said bitterly through a window, "thanks for everything."

As they got farther and farther away, Margo, Edith and Agnes watched Mr. Gru's house grow smaller and smaller, until they couldn't see it anymore...

Even as Miss Hattie began to verbally rip into the four of them.

Ripley still held her head up proudly, and stared into the silence of her own world...

OOOOOO

_At Miss Hattie's Home for Girls..._

"Well looks like you four certainly screwed up." Miss Hattie said to them, she still wasn't done.

"We didn't-" Edith began unwisely, still angry and hurt over the day's events.

"Oh but you did girls," Miss Hattie turned to face them with a sneer, "it's all your faults. Otherwise, he wouldn't have given you back hm?"

Edith was silent, and looked down at her boots.

"Well girls, it's obvious that no-one will ever want _you_..." Miss Hattie stood in front of them like she had always done when chopping their self-confidence down. "You must be truly worthless-"

Agnes's eyes started to water, and the small girl choked on a sniffle...

"NO WE'RE NOT YOU STUPID BITCH!"

One would think that such a gutsy line would erupt from Ripley's natural cuss accustomed mouth, but not it wasn't her...

That shout had come from Margo, who'd felt herself being filled with a Ripley-like gumption as Miss Hattie fired cutting remark after cutting remark... When Agnes's eyes had started to glisten with tears, that just tore it, Margo had finally exploded.

She had had _enough_.

"_What_," Miss Hattie hissed dangerously in Margo's face. "did you just say to _me_?"

"We are not," Margo spat angrily, "we aren't worthless, no matter what the heck you say or do! So I'm telling you to, SHUT THE HELL UP!"

_Slap!_

Miss Hattie had slapped Margo across the face.

"You little..." Miss Hattie's face had gone red, and Edith and Agnes shrank back in fear, Ripley's shoulders tensed violently as the horrible woman lifted the ten year old up by the front of her shirt... "Ungrateful brat!"

Ripley thought fast, and dropped her duffel and backpack near Edith and Agnes, and pushed them towards the stairs, all in the span of one and a half seconds.

"Margo's right!" Ripley snarled at the woman loudly, her blue eye glittering angrily. "Stupid bitches like you should shut up!"

Ripley then indulged her violence streak, she kicked Miss Hattie's shin, causing the woman to release her hold on Margo's shirt...

There was a litany of insults and curses pouring from Miss Hattie now, Ripley had the woman's attention now...

"I get it now," Ripley laughed mockingly, "you just bully people smaller and younger than you because they don't fight back! And for what? To make yourself feel better, to distract yourself from the fact that you're such a fucking horrible bitch that you'll remain unmarried and despised for the rest of your life?"

Ripley didn't even see the movement, until Miss Hattie backhanded her across the face, hard.

Ripley had taken worse, and somehow she hadn't gone flying, she still stood and her blood boiled. And despite the fact that she didn't even have her knife with her, she felt confident.

"Hah! Is that the best you got?" Ripley taunted the livid Orphanage owner cockily before continuing her tirade, "you say that were all worthless, but _you're_ the worthless one, who uses petty, childish jabs to make other people feel bad so you can feel higher than them. When _those_ people, those lives you step on, are worth more than thousands of yours!"

"You're really pushing it dear..." Miss Hattie's voice seemed to take on a more malicious tone. "Apologize." The cow of a woman ordered.

But Ripley had lived with her Mother, her mother's co-workers, dealt with the bullies at school, the rejections and secrets of her adoptions, Ripley had faced so many people who were scarier than Miss Hattie could ever hope to be.

"You aren't worth the apology!" Ripley spat back, smiling even as Miss Hattie's temper finally snapped, Ripley barely felt the ruler break across her face, or the meaty hand lift her underweight body in the same way Margo was.

"Dearie," Miss Hattie said, sickly sweet, "ungrateful worm that you are, I _am _gracious, _apologize_, and your punishment will be less severe."

"Those girls will be greater than you ever could hope to be, they'll surpass every fucking expectation and all the shit life'll throw at them!" Ripley's voice rose with conviction as she smiled smugly, "they'll look back at this hell hole, and someday this establishment of hell, will be nothing but a distant memory to them. This fucking shit hole of an orphanage will go down, and you'll go down with it you fucking bitch!"

...

The rest of the words were muffled by scuffling noises, and several resounding crashes...

Margo felt guilty, Edith and Agnes had dragged Ripley's bags to their room, and assisted halfway by a much stronger Margo.

All they could hear was Ripley's rude comments, hitting where it hurt, verbally attacking Miss Hattie without relent...

A short time later, another, much closer crash was heard, then the slam and click of a door...

Ripley was locked in the broom closet...

A few minutes later, Miss Hattie had stormed into their room and put all three in the 'Box of Shame', even going as far as to make two new boxes of shame as for Edith and Agnes. The Orphanage caretaker simply sneered at Margo, Edith and Agnes's tired misery as she weighted down the boxes to make them too heavy for them to lift.

Miss Hattie seemed to have forgotten Margo's outburst already...

So the four girls spent the night in their own Boxes, or closet, of Shame...

People outside, or in the nearby buildings, whom ignored the shouting and the crashes, went to sleep as everything had finally gone silent.

Inside a closet and thirteen year old swiped half-heartedly at a stream of blood trickling down from her nose, wincing as she accidentally prodded a forming bruise on her cheek. She felt like laughing, not a happy or a joyful one like at Mr. Gru's house, but one that was bitter and smug at the same time.

She knew it, she knew it. The day had come when the smiling would end, when that wonderful moment in life would end. When they finally had a chance, it was right before their eyes, only to have it ripped away, and in the teen's case, again. Ripley buried the snicker that rose in her throat, as her re-bruised ribs would complain.

'_What a hell hole we live in.'_ Ripley thought tiredly, then for the first time, by herself, she prayed, _'god, I know I don't pray much, I know that after all the horrible things I've done, I wouldn't help me either. But, if you're listening, please take care of Margo, Edith and Agnes, I don't care about me anymore, there's no hope for me. Just give them something better than this place... Please?'_

She drifted off, dreaming of blood stained-glass butterflies and tea parties, lost to the sands of time...

Tea parties made for three, a tall boy with Glasgow scars, and a pale, still woman with empty hollowed eyes...

In her sleep, Ripley smiled...

OOOOOO

Inside three cardboard boxes, three little girls wondered. A five year old wondered when their Spy-Dad, when Mr. Gru would come and rescue them. A blonde wondered if the entire thing had been her fault, maybe she was the reason they got sent back. And a bespectacled brunette asked herself what went wrong, and berated herself for opening her big, fat mouth. The three of them hoped that Ripley was okay...

Then Margo remembered Ripley's words, Ripley had never been one for many words to people, but she talked to _them_ a lot. She never really thought about it much, but she knew that Ripley only talked to her and her sisters. She knew Ripley was truly kind to no-one but them, but she'd never really thought about it until now.

The best day ever, had become the worst...

Margo tried to cheer herself up with the thought of the upcoming dance recital, it would be sharing the same block after several other dance numbers and musical talents.

That comforted her a little, though not by much...

* * *

A/N: Well their lives just went down the crapper didn't it? Yeah I know, I took a one way trip to angsty-drama-ville. Ripley did not dominate the chapter, at least I don't think she did... I mostly tried to gravitate towards Margo and Edith's points of view. If I didn't do it well please tell me...

Anyways, yeah, I made Miss Hattie a real bitch, but when wasn't she? I think I made her a little more realistic. I think she'd one of those people who bring down other people cause they can't get a date and are frustrated with their lives. (Bottom Line: Child Abuse of any kind = EVIL! Bad! BAD! Horrible, monsterly people do this) Also, tell me, did I go overboard on this?

This was the chapter that never seemed to end, I decided to use some creative license and fill in the blanks.

Also, yep, Mr. Gru WAS Number 1 villain at some point, I assume that the guys should know at _least _a few languages.

On another note, poor Ripley, she starts opening up and what does it get her? Sad things… Sniffle…

Again(damn do I ever shut up?), what happened to Kazimir? What did he do or say to piss Ripley off? Stay tuned to find out!

**PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! (no FLAMES!)**


	9. Jump Then Fall

Despicably Me

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's, if I owned Despicable Me… (drools)

A/N: Okay, I haven't updated in like half an eternity, yeah, I've been busy trying to finish my monster of a history fair and science fair… Sigh… Anywho, here's the next chapter… Please REVIEW! Tell me what you think, FLAMES will be used to roast Twilight books and Edward Cullen over an open hearth in vampire-proof bindings…

* * *

Chapter 8: Jump Then Fall

It was the day of the recital, wasn't this day supposed to be a happy one?

Sometimes Ripley questioned her own common sense, she'd thought that she'd finally forgotten what it felt like to be abandoned, again… Turns out it _still_ burned just as bad…

'_Wonder if it was my fault…'_ Thought Ripley guiltily as she stretched out her cramped muscles, _'maybe I ruined everything for them.'_

The only good thing that ever came of the entire ordeal of spending two days in a closet; which made Ripley entirely glad that she'd gone to the bathroom before being sent back; was that she finally acknowledged that the only important things in her life, was Margo, Edith and Agnes.

The bruises Miss Hattie had inflicted, aggravated Ripley's older bruises and her re-healing ribs had cracked again… Brilliant…

Ripley winced as a particular stretch sent several tremors of pain through her abdomen, as per usual, she ignored it… She was used to the feeling…

Onward with her crappy day, Miss Hattie glared at the back of the teen's head as she followed Margo, Edith and Agnes out the door, to walk to the Community Theatre…

Ripley felt… Surreal… Like she was numb, floating… Drifting…

Perhaps, the whole ordeal was her fault, maybe she should've taken a hint from all her previous failed adoptions, maybe she should've just turned into what people wanted her to be.

Quiet, girly, pliable personality… The list of what people had wanted in her as their child went on…

Maybe she should've not bothered the villain so much, then at least Margo, Edith and Agnes wouldn't have had to suffer with her…

Maybe if she'd acted happier… Why did she always have to screw up every good thing that life offered her? It wouldn't have bothered Ripley so much if it had only affected her, but the fact that it was most likely her fault that their lives were now officially screwed over? Yes, it bugged Ripley big time…

What the hell was wrong with her?

Things had been going great, smoothing over since the four girls' first arrival, but Mr. Gru did nothing to stop Dr. Nefario from calling… Hell, he didn't even say a word to stop Miss Hattie…

He looked right into Agnes's pleading eyes, and pried her away. Ripley had observed everything with… A certain degree of numbness in which she used to shield her true thoughts, it worked very well for the teen.

Ripley had seen it coming, Villain, Civilian, Agents, Heroes… Everyone was the same, they want something from you, but when they've finally got it, or worse, when they find that you've got nothing left to give, they don't want you anymore…

Ripley had already resigned herself to the notion that someday she'd just snap and go kill herself somehow, or that she'd just stop giving a fuck and wither away in a corner…

She watched Margo, Edith and Agnes wait for the show to start, in their little tutus… Ready to wow the crowd behind the curtain…

Technically, Ripley wasn't even allowed backstage, but Agnes's cute look was enough to make the instructor cave into allowing Ripley to stay.

'_Margo, Edith, Agnes…'_ The names were comfortable in Ripley's mind, the mere thought of the three brought a certain degree of… Feeling within the numbness…

Ripley was never really sure whether it was a good thing for her or bad… But she simply wrote it off as a lukewarm irregularity in her supremely screwed up personality.

"Can we just wait five mo' minutes?" Agnes requested Madame Rosing.

"Mmmm. Okay." The woman caved in again to Agnes's adorableness and left.

"He's not-" Margo tried to convince Agnes again, then she turned to Ripley for support, "aren't you going to help me out here? You haven't said a word in days."

"Why rain on the parade?" Ripley murmured, half to Margo, half to herself.

"What?" Margo couldn't see the connection, Ripley had been oddly silent since they were sent back.

"Good luck with the recital 'kay?" Ripley deadpanned as she abandoned her seat on a large wooden crate, and began to walk…

"Wait, where're ya going?" Edith said quickly.

"Just to be a coward for a bit," Ripley turned her head just enough to look at Margo with her singular blue eye, "it'll be all good in like five minutes."

Before Margo could answer, Ripley had already walked away…

In a burst of petulance, Margo moved forward to grip Ripley's jacket sleeve, she needed the teen's support here!

Ripley barely moved her head to lock gazes with the brunette, silencing the ten-year old with an exhausted sort of glare.

Margo let go of Ripley's sleeve, Ripley's mouth twitched upwards for a moment in thanks, and the teen walked down the backstage hall…

But as they got onstage, Margo couldn't help but feel a certain amount of unease, she'd never seen Ripley so quiet before. Usually Ripley would smile a 'devil-may-care' grin and say something rude to diffuse any tension in the room, everything would be fine after that…

But since they were sent back, Ripley face looked so empty, so devoid of expression it just made Margo uneasy and afraid of what Ripley could possibly thinking about…

But she'd never seen the teen so tired, the way Ripley had glared at her, it had an underlying pleading to Margo. Like Ripley was begging, _'please, please, please, I'm tired, just don't ask me anymore.'_

Ripley never looks like that, Margo was not naïve enough to think that Ripley was completely fine as she always claimed to be, she knew that Ripley wasn't together at the moment…

The teen just needed time to herself, that was all…

But as the sad, disappointed looks crept upon Edith and Agnes's faces, Margo looked out to see what she'd expected…

An empty chair, and a taped note pinned lovingly to it's front…

Mockingly empty.

Thoughts of Ripley's recent behavior suddenly flew out of Margo's mind as the music began, as she felt her heart break a little more…

OOOOOOO

_After the Recital…_

Everyone was gone already, gone with their children, gone _home_…

Margo assumed that she, Edith, Agnes and Ripley were the only ones left in the building, and maybe the odd custodian or two…

Bu-

"Hello girls." A familiar voice said, as a figure stepped out into view, in the same bright orange getup.

Vector.

"What the-?" Margo had been spending waaaay too much time with Ripley, her mind was already working with cuss words…

In his right arm he held the struggling forms of Edith and Agnes trapped in a net, and in his left some sort of gun loaded with a… Fish?

"Put them down!" Margo scrambled for anything, something to hit the man with… How dare that son of a bitch threaten her sisters?

A chair, a child's chair was all Margo could get ahold of, better than nothing.

"What?" Vector scoffed at Margo's impromptu weapon, "you gonna put me in time out?"

"Put. Them. Down." Margo hissed angrily holding the chair to her right side, ready to swing.

"Don't make me laugh girlie." Vector pulled the trigger and the gun fired an… Electric eel?

Margo took a quick sidestep, just like Ripley showed her, and hopped off the stage, Vector in pursuit abandoning his hold on the heavy netting containing Edith and Agnes.

Vector ran after her, through the chairs, knocking them over and tripping over them.

Margo tossed the chair at the man, managing to make him trip once again. But then a heavy weight knocked her forward, and Margo realized that Vector had caught her in a net.

A very heavy net.

"Shoots electric eels _and_ heavy duty nets! Oh yeah!" Vector did that disturbingly dorky hip thrust dance again.

"Ripley! Help!" Margo heard Edith and Agnes call out for the teen.

"Yeah!" Vector tried to be cool, failing miserably, "where's the taller one?"

Margo never knew a day when Ripley wouldn't come running for them, the brunette sometimes wondered why she herself never truly noticed. Ripley had literally taken them under her wing, closer than the teen ever let anyone else…

It made Margo feel a bit guilty, Ripley had always been uncomfortable with physical contact, yet she endured Agnes's impromptu hugs, and occasionally… Ripley hugged the three of them, sometimes for absolutely no reason at all, for when Margo knew that Ripley wasn't sure what to say.

She'd watched several of Ripley's adoptions over the few years she'd known the teen, there was always a sort of… Acceptance of hopelessness… But Ripley always kept a certain defiance that Margo admired…

But Margo's thoughts flashed back to before the recital, the defiant glint in Ripley's singular eye… It had been dull… Empty…

'_I'm tired, I've got no strength left to share, I'm sorry.'_

But, Vector was a stranger… What would he do with them? Margo didn't know, and it scared her. She didn't like not knowing, being unsure of what was next…

"Ripley! I know you're feeling terrible right now!" Margo called out, a last ditch attempt, normally, Ripley would've answered Agnes or Edith's first calls, "but, please…?" Margo's voice trailed off, unsure of what _could _be said, which was odd for the ten-year old brunette, because she was never at a loss for words.

"Awww, how sweet," Vector taunted with a terrible rendition of an evil chuckle, "well? Come on out bit, bad teenager? What? Too chicken?" Vector taunted acted as if Ripley could hear him.

'_No,'_ Margo thought as her heart sank with the lengthening silence. _'She can't, she wouldn't leave us…'_

'"_Just to be a coward for a bit."'_

Margo remembered her and her sisters' stepfather, when he left them, he'd said that he'd be back… But he never came back…

Did Ripley abandon them too?

Margo could feel a multitude of emotions behind that statement, betrayal, anger, hurt…

"RAHHHHHH!" Suddenly, from the folds of the stage curtain, a flying PVC pipe was flying at Vector's head with alarming speed.

Vector twisted, the two foot PVC pipe just barely missing his nose, and clattering noisily to the floor.

Then there was Ripley, charging forward with another PVC pipe, nearly four feet in length. Ripley had just seemed to, appear from behind the curtain…

Margo and Edith knew the term that people used in this situation would've been that Ripley looked like an avenging angel… But no…

Ripley looked like a demon charging straight out of hell.

And there wasn't a doubt in Margo's mind that the teen would stop nothing short of killing the man with that PVC pipe, in the most brutal way possible.

Seeing the obviously danger, Vector dashed to the side, kicking several chairs at Ripley's legs, but due to all of the chair lying around, Ripley tripped over them and fell to the ground. Close enough for Margo to her the sharp intake of air as the teen's ribs were jarred violently by the overturned chair she'd landed on.

Ripley gasped harshly, hacking painful breaths through her lungs and her bruised abdomen…

All hope of escape dwindled when Vector took out what looked like a small spray bottle from his belt, and spritzed it in Ripley's face. Ripley's pained breaths slowing to a gentler pace, as her eyelids drooped, and the one-eyed teen slipped into unconsciousness.

The orange dork did the same to Edith and Agnes, then sprayed the gas to Margo as well.

The last thing Margo remembered before slipping into unconsciousness was the man laughing…

OOOOOOOO

_Later…_

The girls woke up inside a bubble…

A giant, glass bubble.

Margo was suddenly surprised to see Mr. Gru onscreen, he came to rescue them?

He gave up the moon that he rightfully got for them? That he worked so hard to get?

Ripley simply looked listless and bored, though her eye did flicker towards the screen a bit as Mr. Gru smashed the video screen.

Margo was no less than amazed when Mr. Gru dodged those missiles, and punched the freaking shark.

"Wow…" Edith said with amazement.

"Judging by the cracks on the screen," Ripley said to Vector with a slight grin, "he's gonna kick your ass."

"Be quiet captive!" Vector yelled emphatically, before engaging the flight mode of the room.

The four girls watched as Mr. Gru tried to climb up the heavily accelerating flying ship, he almost fell as Vector jerked the controls, and Mr. Gru fell…

"Ripley, stop fallin' alsweep!" Agnes shook said teen's shoulder, who'd begun to nod off.

"S'rry." Ripley mumbled numbly.

The ship jerked again, held back by something…

Vector did his best to shake off Gru's ship, yes Mr. Gru didn't fall to his death after all…

'_Hm… First time I've actually been glad to know an adult's still alive…'_ Ripley thought with an odd sense of detachment from her surroundings…

Another painful intake of breath…

'_Shit,' _the blue-eyed teen thought angrily, _'did a rib bust?'_

Vector, heedless of Margo, Edith and Agnes's warnings, the moon that Vector had perched oh so wonderfully on that little pedestal? It was regaining its size, quickly.

Another size change. More weight on the ship, causing it to tilt sharply…

The glass ball the girls were trapped in, rolled.

_CRASH!_

And shattered.

An off-balance Vector elbowed a button as he stumbled around, opening the back to the ship hatch.

Oh god they were so high up…

Margo had her right arm around Agnes and Edith, and held onto a metal shaft with her left. There was no way down… Nothing survivable anyways.

Then she saw Mr. Gru, standing on the ship's wings.

"Joo haff to jump now!" Mr. Gru held out his arms for them.

"You gave us back…" Margo held Edith and Agnes closer.

"I know," Mr. Gru said imploringly, "and eet was dee bee-gest mee-stake I ever made!"

Margo looked back at Ripley, who'd taken on a frighteningly pale skin color, then the brunette looked back at Mr. Gru.

"But you have to jump now, I vill catch you." Mr. Gru held out his arms to them, inching forward again.

Margo looked at Edith and Agnes, and said to them, "it'll be okay."

She tossed Agnes down first, Mr. Gru caught her with ease and the yellow 'cousins' brought her to the safety of the ship's interior.

Next was Edith, Mr. Gru caught her as well, which left the two oldest…

"Jump I vill catch you," Mr. Gru said to them, "and never let you go again!"

Margo held onto the metal shaft even tighter, with both hands now, as the ship jerked once again.

Ripley wasn't even responding to anything around her, it was like she had reached an ultimate zen-mode… Nothing could reach her, wherever she was at…

Margo was about to jump, when Vector suddenly came up from behind the girls, and clamped his arm around Margo's neck, trapping her.

Suddenly, Ripley was lucid, and her expression took on the same one she'd had back at the theatre. The teen abandoned her hold on the metal bar as well… Her face was murderous, thought no-one could see it behind Vector's big head.

"Not so fast _Gru_." Vector gloated, ignoring the suddenly lucid teen behind him. "Don't think you'll win so- ACK!"

Ripley hands had gone round his neck, her entire being seemingly focused on one thing and one thing only, strangling the life out of the man.

Vector released his hold on Margo, his hands suddenly going to his neck, in vain attempt to pry Ripley's vice grip apart.

The tow line was going to snap, but Mr. Gru was trying to walk it…

'_Terrible shoe choice dummy…' _Ripley thought blankly as she heaved another painful breath, but continued to tighten her grip.

Mr. Gru almost fell, he reached out to Margo…

The ship jerked with the moon's gaining weight again, Mr. Gru slipped, and held onto the tow line for dear life…

Ripley let go of Vector's throat, and elbowed him back into the ship with the rolling moon.

Margo jumped, just as the tow line snapped, they both fell…

'_No…'_ Ripley thought as her vision seemed to blur at the edges.

Mr. Gru caught Margo, they almost fell, but were caught by a chain of the yellow helper guys. Ripley breathed a shallow sigh of relief…

"Ripley!" Margo called out to the wavering teen.

Ripley couldn't focus, every breath hurt like fire in her chest, her vision would spin a little… Heh, she knew in her mind that Mr. Gru would be unable to catch her…

'_Can't get anything I want ever, huh?'_ Ripley thought bitterly to herself.

"Ripley! Jump!" Ripley couldn't even differentiate who's voice it was, whether it was Margo's, or Edith's or even Mr. Gru's.

The teen just turned her one-eyed gaze to lock with Mr. Gru's, her face still covered by her beanie and bandanna…

'_I want you to catch me too…'_ Ripley thought tiredly, and, unsteadily, the one-eyed teen jumped…

Margo had already been passed up the chain of yellow mutants to the ship's wing. Mr. Gru, who was still hanging by his ankle, held out his arms as best he could for Ripley, watching as Vector's ship hyper-jumped into space, out of sight.

Ripley's falling body got closer.

Closer…

Their fingertips brushed…

Mr. Gru could only grab at the air, as Ripley fell…

They were so high up, there had to be time!

"Nefario!" Mr. Gru yelled hoarsely, "down! NOW!"

Gru was determined to save Ripley too, her will to live or lack thereof be damned…

OOOOOO

_With Ripley…_

Falling…

'_He said he'd catch me…'_ Ripley thought emptily.

But all thoughts of what a useless fuck up she was aside, Margo, Edith and Agnes… They were safe…

Her reasons for staying on this forsaken plane of existence, they were safe, and Mr. Gru… He'd wanted them back, they'd be happy…

That was all that mattered…

Ripley fell through the cover of clouds...

'_Maybe this is a dream…'_ Ripley thought blearily, _'a nightmare, maybe when I hit ground, I'll wake up. And Mother would love me, or Mr. Gru would take me back too…'_

'_In what lifetime?' _A little cynical voice inside of Ripley spat.

But the wind, the weightlessness, it felt nice…

Like she hadn't a care in the world…

…

Why couldn't she just hurry up and die already?

She turned her head slightly, adjusting her body's position as it fell…

And the ground just got ever closer…

And Ripley wished for the millionth time in her life, that things had been different. For a life, a childhood that had never been hers, for the life that she'd almost… _Almost _had…

The one that had just slipped from her fingers…

Then something smacked into her ribs, hard. Knocking the air out of her once again, a sharp whistling noise screeching reaching her ears, as she was suddenly no longer moving downward…

'_What the-?'_

"Hey Runt!" An overtly cheery voice said as Ripley felt herself being readjusted to a more comfortable hold as her brother leveled out his jet pack's flight path, "you always have exciting days like this?"

'_Leave it to Kazimir to ruin a perfectly dramatic moment…'_ Ripley thought wryly, but she smiled anyway and blacked out peacefully…

* * *

A/N: Whew! I finally finished it! I finally got an update for ya'll! Sorry it took so long, but the streaming I used as a reference was cancelled and I had to do this by memory, so excuse the lack of dialogue. Yes, Ripley's got cracked ribs, and possibly a broken one or two. Please tell me what you guys think of it! REVIEW AND COMMENT PLZ! =) Thank you! G'night!

NOTE: I'm working on the next chap right now, but between science fair, history fair, homework, and the work out boot camp my Mom's making me go to, I won't have a lot of extra time, but I'll do what I can 'kay?


	10. Dare to Be Happy

Despicably Me

Disclaimer: Despicable Me, its plot, and its characters are all property of Illumination Entertainment and whoever wrote the thing… Bottom line: NOT MINE!

A/N: Hey ya'll! I finally started my science experiment! Gosh that took waaaaay too long… Kids, don't follow my bad example of procrastinating! Do you projects ahead of time and save yourself a load of panicking and stress! Please review! REVIEW! Enjoy the show!

**To my Faithful Reviewers:**

**Shibo26** – Yes, these matches shall do perfectly(laughs evilly)… Oh Dammit! Edward's trying to run away again, oh well at least he ran right into the fire pit… Time for a bonfire… MWAHAHAHAHHAH!

**LillithDemon** - Thank you! It nice to know that my humor isn't that lame.

**Luiz4200** – I think Gru's first language is Hungarian, cause his accent is Hungarian, not Russian, which many people confuse.

* * *

**Translation/s:**

**Hodne stesti.** = (Czech) Good luck.

**Jsi nejlepsi velky bratr na celem sirem svete a zadne mnozstvi prolite krve nikdy nezmeni.** = (Czech) You're the best big brother in the whole wide world, and no amount of spilled blood will ever change that

**Jste nejvetsi hrdina v mem zivote, a ja te milovat na vzdy, bez ohledu na to, co. **= (Czech) You are the biggest hero in my life, and I'll love you for always, no matter what.

**Jsem nekonecne lito, Ripley.** = I'm infinitely sorry, Ripley.

**Je me lito taky. **= (Czech) I'm sorry too.

**Za to, co jsem rekl predtim, je me lito.** = (Czech) For what I said before. Sorry…

* * *

Chapter 9: Dare to Be Happy

Kazimir really hadn't wanted to get involved again…

Sure, he'd been stalking his little sister for a little over a year without her knowing, sure he'd planted a tracking device in her teeth when she was sleeping, sure he'd even had to go out and make an art sculpture out of a rapist's corpse, just to stave off the urge of going to _torture_ that bitch who ran the Orphanage… The bitch who dared to hurt his little sister...

Heaven knew Kazimir still felt guilty about _not_ killing that stupid bitch, he still wanted to… But completing his endless revenge list was another matter entirely…

And sure, Kazimir knew that every time he got involved with his sister's life, things went straight down the crapper…

Kazimir sighed, remembering what he'd planned to do today… He was finally going have his revenge on that bitchy cashier girl from two streets down… He'd created a fake corpse, it even had blood and bones for crying out loud! It looked good enough to be a prop on NCIS and Kazimir had been planning to drop it on the little hooligan's front lawn. But had been forced to drop his prank project, literally, in favor of catching his younger sister and saving her life.

Well, at least it had made a great splatter…

Kazimir sighed, trying to figure out what was nagging him in the back of his mind, eventually he gave up as he landed in the seclusion of his backyard.

His home was nowhere near the 'happy' suburbia, it was located just outside of town, tucked away in a patch of woods dense enough to seem intimidating. The twenty-two year old man sighed, he still had to take care of little Marus-, Ripley's, rib.

He buried the thoughts as he carried the little body into his basement and placed her on the operating table…

Kazimir just had to wake her up… And reprimand her for running around with a fractured rib…

Then a metallic scent hit his nostrils, and he turned his attention to his sister's prone form. And he realized that the blood had started to drip out of her mouth…

'_Shit.'_ Kazimir already knew what was wrong, he'd seen it hundreds of times, her rib had broken completely and had pierced her lung.

'_Well,'_ thought Kazimir as he prepped his sister for immediate surgery, _'there goes my day.'_

OOOOOOOO

_Back with Gru and the girls…_

It could not be said the Gru did not have a heart, as the ship ducked down through the cloud cover, even at risk of being seen…

He'd promised to catch Ripley too…

She'd been pale, sickly looking, and acted almost disoriented before she jumped…

Gru didn't catch her, only feeling the tips of her fingers brush his for a brief second before falling, falling…

He couldn't see Ripley anywhere in the air, and he gulped and looked down…

A bloody spatter on the ground, his heart dropped…

"**Didn't you promise to catch me?"** A mocking visage of Ripley's voice had formed in his mind.

'_I'm sorry.'_ Gru thought as he couldn't bear to look Margo in the face as the brunette made it so that Edith and Agnes couldn't see.

"**Is that all you've got? I'm sorry?" **The Mental Ripley mocked viciously.

'_I'm sorry.'_

"**You give us hope, then you abandon us to rot, now I'm dead…"** The mental visage of Ripley made the exact likeness of her characteristic, bitter smile, **"and all you can say is that you sorry? Pathetic."**

'_I failed all four of you…'_ Gru thought miserably.

**Why didn't you catch me?**

'_I tried, I tried,'_ Gru could see the tears spill from Margo's eyes, and feel the tell-tale prickling of his own…

"Gurls… I…" Gru's voice faltered, already having climbed into the ship, he faced them. Unsure of what to say anymore…

Edith didn't need to see a unrecognizable body on the ground to know that Ripley was… Gone…

Margo was crying now and Edith was starting to join in the waterworks.

"What's w'ong?" Agnes asked as she tried to peer through the window, only to be prevented from doing so by Gru.

"Not'ing Agnees, not'ing." The bald villain assured the smallest girl as straightened his shoulders, he knew that this was all _his_ fault. If he hadn't given the girls up…

The wise-cracking teen would still be alive…

Gru looked at the three girls next to him as Dr. Nefario drove the ship silently, then the villain shook his head.

No, he could deal with guilt later, there was the matter at hand that needed to be discussed.

"Nefario," Gru had finally regained control over his voice, and spoke steadily, "drawp us off at dee park."

"The park?" Dr. Nefario questioned with a raised eyebrow, "but shouldn't-"

"Dee gurls and I need to _talk_." Gru said commandingly, his tone leaving no room for arguments.

Without a word more, Dr. Nefario engaged a rarely used cloaking drive on the ship as it hovered above the city park, and dropped Gru and the girls off before flying away.

"Seet."Gru picked out a park bench to sit on and patted the empty space next to him.

Gru did his best to ignore the gnawing emptiness and guilt that he was feeling at the moment, especially when he looked at Margo and Edith's expressions.

But the three girls did eventually sit down, though the still oblivious Agnes opted to play in the nearby playground, which the young girl did.

"Why did you do that?" Margo blurted out suddenly.

"Do what?" Gru asked in confusion.

"Give up the moon for us? Come back? Give us away?" Margo's voice betrayed a confused sort of bitterness, "do you want a list?"

"I-" Gru still felt at a loss for words, he knew, he'd never been great with children, or comforting anybody, or even talking about things such as this.

"Should I put it in writing?" Margo said, ranting slightly, all thoughts of intellectual rebuttal forgotten.

"Margo…" Edith's voice was uncharacteristically soft, her shoulders hunched and her eyes shadowed beneath her chullo hat. "Bitterness, doesn't suit you."

At the blonde's words, Margo went silent, as she and Gru stared at Edith's somber expression.

"Sorry." Margo muttered, sniffling a little.

"I ahm too…" Gru echoed softly, just for the two girls to hear.

"Are you giving us back?" Edith asked quietly, her tone… Uncharacteristically flat.

"No! I'm nawt," Gru blurted ineloquently, "unless you gurls don't vant to…"

"That's it then," Edith hopped off the bench suddenly, and made steps toward the playground, "nothing more to be said."

And with those words, the eight-year old went to play on the monkey bars, silently…

The silence between Margo and Gru was, uncomfortable to say the least. They sat there for what seemed like an inordinate amount of time, simply watching Agnes and Edith enjoy themselves in the playground.

Or at least Agnes was enjoying herself, Edith still looked like she was rather going through the motions of playing… The blonde girl seemed to be thinking deeply about something, the subject matter could only be put down as an educated guess.

Surprisingly, it was Margo who broke the silence.

"You're taking us back?" The brunette adjusted her glasses uncertainly.

"Eef you vant." Gru replied.

"Why?" Margo asked quietly.

"Vhy deed I nawt catch her too? Vhy deed I make one of dee worst meestakes of my life?" Gru paused a moment to breathe deeply, "I t'eenk of deese t'ings, and I still don't have answers…"

Margo looked up at Gru, curiously through her tear blurred vision.

"But I know," Gru straightened his back slightly, "dat I should have never geeven you gurls up, and I know dat sorry vill never be enough but…"

"It's fine." Margo said too quietly as she looked down at the concrete.

"I-" Great, Gru had started to babble, he was _not _good these kinds of things.

"We want to stay." Margo spoke again, a little louder this time, before adding quietly, "and I think, I think Ripley wanted to too."

"I could see dat…" Gru looked up at the blue, blue sky… The sky darkening with telltale rainclouds in the distance.

"You know," Margo looked up at the darkening sky, "I think that Ripley were here, she'd call us a bunch of over-emotional sissies, don't you think?"

"Yes," Gru swiped at the corners of his eyes, "that sounds about right."

And for a while, they just, talked…

They didn't even noticing as those dark clouds started to roll in, as hours passed on by…

OOOOOOOO

_Back with Ripley and Kazimir…_

Kazimir had worked almost feverishly on Ripley, or Maruska as he always referred to her in his mind.

The diagnosis was short, Ripley had two completely snapped ribs, and her right lung had been punctured, causing it to collapse.

The surgery itself had actually been quite simple, all he'd had to do was use some of that biological glue that still happened to be experimental, and wire the ribs together to heal. As well as fixing the holes in Ripley's lung before re-inflating it. Afterward, Kazimir stitched up the incision along his sister's torso, and waited for an hour…

Kazimir sighed, he knew that his sister hated hospitals, and infirmaries, and nurse's offices… And at the moment, he knew that answers were needed _now_.

He grabbed the smelling salts from a cabinet, and a bottle of vicodin.

He waved the smelling salts beneath the one-eyed girl's nose, and, only an hour after surgery, Ripley woke up.

"Mmmmrr…" The teen groaned with partial coherence, "Kaz?"

"Hey Runt." Kazimir greeted softly, standing up and starting to clean off his surgical tools.

"Wha' h'ppened?" Ripley slurred a little.

"Two snapped ribs and your left lung collapsed. You've escaped death once again little one." Her elder brother said affectionately.

"You were alive." Ripley stated suddenly, wheezing a bit.

"Yeah, in a manner of speaking." Kazimir sterilized another scalpel.

"All this time." Ripley said, wincing due to the lack of any pain relief. "And ya didn't once come to get me."

"Yes." Kazimir didn't even deny it.

"Why?" Ripley couldn't even disguise the hurt from her voice, she never could around her brother. "Why didn't you-?"

"Because Runt," Kazimir sighed, not once pausing in the clean up of the tools he'd used to save his sister's life, "it's no life for you."

"What gave you the right to decide?" Ripley croaked back from the operating table.

"Nothing," Kazimir answered, "but I did anyways."

"Where are you going after this?" Ripley seemed to have dropped the subject entirely, simply hopping onto another one.

"How could you tell?" Kazimir asked with a little grin.

"You've got that look," Ripley shifted uncomfortably, wincing at the residual pain, "that says you got itchy feet."

"Heh," Kazimir paused in his cleaning for a moment, "yeah I s'pose I do."

"So where?"

"Don't know really," Kazimir sighed tiredly, "with my PhD, and my skill set, I could get a job anywhere."

"_You_ got a PhD?" Ripley smiled, then winced again.

"Yeah, neurosurgeon, would you believe it?" Kazimir joked half-heartedly.

"I would," Ripley wheezed proudly, admiringly, "you were always good at that sort of thing."

Kazimir's shoulders and back stiffened, as if angry… Why was he?

"You think the world of me don't you?" He said suddenly.

"You're my brother, why wouldn't I-?"

"You're foolish." Kazimir interrupts coldly, his facial expression turning oddly sober.

"What?"

"Stupid, for trusting me so much," Kazimir mocked sarcastically as he started to put away his surgical tools into their respective cabinets, "you really think I'm such a wonderful person? That I, _The _Sculptor, torturer extraordinaire, have changed? I'm still as I've always been, I simply haven't had any, _artistic_ inspiration yet."

"Don't care." Ripley muttered sleepily.

"Oh and why's that?" Kazimir shot back.

"You're still the brother who put me back together all the time, dug me out of that rubble, and stopped… You know…" Ripley paused for a moment of discomfort before continuing, "and no matter how many people you killed, no matter how many you tortured, no matter what happened, you were always kind to me. And that's the only thing that matters, murderer-since-five or not, I love you anyways."

Kazimir sighed, was there any convincing his sister of anything?

"Fine, so um pertinent question," Kazimir's outward mood switched gears again, "can you walk?"

"Depends," Ripley quirked an eyebrow at her brother, "what's the diagnosis doctor?"

"Normally, since we aren't on a schedule, I would say that you should rest here, but," Kazimir sat on a rolling chair and faced his sister, "what do you want?"

"Can't I stay with you?" Ripley had lived years without the brother who may as well have raised her, as mad as she was at him, she could never _stay _mad.

"No." Her brother said sadly.

"Why?"

"Because," Kazimir snapped suddenly, "in a normal environment? Let's face it, as far as home lives go, I cannot give you that."

"Why ever not?" Ripley frowned as she spoke.

"What part of former cutthroat interrogator do you not understand?" Kazimir said as he grinned that devil-may-care grin of his.

"Emphasis on former." Ripley smiled back at him. "But really…"

"Hm?" Kazimir raised a curious eyebrow.

"If taking care of me is too much to ask, and I guess it is now that I think about it," Ripley laughed sheepishly, "could at least be part of my life? Somehow?"

Kazimir was silent, then he moved to help Ripley stand up from the operating table.

"I'll think about it." Was all the blue-eyed man with Glasgow scars said, as he handed Ripley the bottle of vicodin and helped her hobble to his pick-up truck.

It began to rain just as Kazimir started the car, and began to drive down the dirt road…

They reached the city, in complete silence save for the pitter-pattering of the rain outside. And as the rain fell down in increasingly big drops, Ripley wondered about a lot of things…

"I can't believe you kept my jacket, after all these years," Kazimir murmured in what may have been amazement.

"It reminded me of our tea parties," Ripley said soberly, "and it smelled like you."

"Blood, gunpowder and various lethal chemicals?" Kazimir raised a playful eyebrow, and stopped at the intersection.

"Yes that," Ripley sucked in another breath, "and cheesecake."

"Cheesecake?" Kazimir protested jokingly, "I smell like cheesecake?"

"Well I thought you did." Ripley laughed softly, wincing as another stab of achiness zipped through her.

Then Kazimir stopped the car, in front of a bus station.

"Now, I know you can handle being injured," Kazimir said in a serious but affectionate tone, "so I'm going to leave you here, and take this."

Her older brother tossed her a wallet, which she promptly caught… Just 'cause she was in recovery, didn't mean she couldn't do stuff, so she peered inside the wallet.

Money. Lots of it.

"I- I can't take this." Ripley protested.

"Yes, yes you can," Kazimir smiled back with his deadly canines, which Ripley knew had torn many throats in the past, "and you will march out there and decide where to go with your life."

"My life?" The one-eyed teen echoed back.

"You've got a choice to make Runt," Kazimir put the truck in park, and turned around in the seat to face her, "take that money, take a bus and try to make it in the world, you can, I know you Maruska, _you are_ perfectly capable of pulling that off…"

Ripley was silent at her brother's unexpected praise.

"Or you can go back to the Orphanage and wait," Kazimir continued his eyes glinting seriously, "from this point, you can go anywhere you want to."

Kazimir then got out of the truck, walked around to Ripley's side, and opened the door, umbrella in hand.

"Off you go Maruska," Kazimir smiled with an odd expression on his features, "you've got your life ahead of you."

"Stop calling me tha-" Ripley tried to interject weakly as he brother helped her hobble to the shelter of the canopy.

"And sure, if you're still alive in a couple of weeks," Kazimir turned to leave quickly, "you'll resume your training, you've gotten quite sloppy."

"And how would you know?" Ripley shot back.

Suddenly, Kazimir was almost instantly behind Ripley, ghosting his unnaturally large canines against where she knew her jugular vein was.

"Because I am still capable of killing you," Kazimir's mood had switched gears into a far more eerie one, "that means you have either not improved enough, or you have gotten worse, not good _at all_."

"Well sor- ry!" Ripley spat sarcastically, "it's not like I have anyone worth sparring with."

"Besides," Kazimir suddenly distance himself from Ripley, moving towards his truck, "all that stalking was good for something."

"You've been _stalking_ me?" Ripley at least _tried_ to sound pissed.

"Those suicidal impulses are going to be the death of you…" Kazimir smirked as he stood there, in the pouring rain.

"Wait! How did you-? You bugged the building!" Ripley wheezed painfully as her recovering injuries protested the sudden movement of her arm, because she had pointed an accusatory finger at Kazimir.

"Yep, though I must say," Kazimir said almost offhandedly, "the way you chose to attempt suicide was quite mundane, may I suggest-?"

"No, Kaz." Ripley popped a vicodin in her mouth and scowled at him. "Not another word."

"Fine then Runt," Kazimir began to walk back to his truck, "Hodne stesti."

Ripley watched her brother walk, then suddenly she started to hobble forward, and she called out to him.

"Wait, Kaz!"

Surprisingly, Ripley had hobbled fast enough to catch up to her older brother, and threw her arms around him.

"Jsi nejlepsi velky bratr na celem sirem svete a zadne mnozstvi prolite krve nikdy nezmeni." Then the thirteen-year old squeezed him a little harder, "Jste nejvetsi hrdina v mem zivote, a ja te milovat na vzdy, bez ohledu na to, co."

Kazimir stiffened slightly, both of them knew, Ripley had never been one to hug, not since their Mother started breaking her bones in training. Ripley had never even hugged Kazimir all that much, due to the fact that he was usually covered in blood almost 24/7 back when they were young.

"Seeya 'round Runt." Kazimir pried his sister off of him, ruffling her hair affectionately through her hat.

Then he got in his truck and drove away.

Leaving Ripley out in the pouring rain, but was she distraught? No, quite the opposite in fact. Kazimir's behavior was erratic, moody and quite mad…

'_I miss that fucked-up psychopath already.'_ Ripley sighed inwardly as she hobbled back to the dry safety of the canopy in front of the bus station.

But suddenly, she turned, and started to hobble in a different direction…

The only direction the one-eyed girl knew that she would go at the moment, she already had the reasoning and logical standpoints figured out as well, all the circumstances…

But out of all her thoughts, one particular thought simply stood out among them all…

'_Mr. Gru wanted us back…'_

Ripley shivered as the rain still soaked her clothes, despite the umbrella. But she moved on, and she began remember...

A day such as this one…

Endless walking, exhaustion setting in…

But today was _different_… Today, Ripley was hobbling _to_ somewhere…

'_Mr. Gru came to rescue us…'_

Did Ripley even dare even hope? She'd hoped before, all it ever got her was more scars to add to her collection, both physical and emotional. But, she wanted it to be real, Ripley just wanted it to be there when she got there.

And finally, after an hour and a half of slow hobbling, Ripley had arrived on Mr. Gru's street, and stood in front of his house. Ripley was so tired though, it took her fifteen minutes to hobble up to the doorstep.

Ripley took a shallow breath, and rang the doorbell…

No-one answered the door…

_Ding-dong_

Ripley rang it again.

Still no answer.

Okay, Ripley was tired, emotionally exhausted, and just downright pissy, so she tried another approach…

"Hey DUMBFUCK who lives here! OPEN the fucking DOOR!" Ripley yelled as she kicked the door harshly.

'_Oh god, ow!'_ Ripley nearly doubled over as the pain bloomed in her ribs, stupid vicodin wasn't even enough, then the teen realized that she'd moved the wrong way, thus inducing the painful-ness.

Suddenly the door swung open and out came Margo, Edith and Agnes, suddenly latched onto her for dear life, and causing more physical pain with the way they were hugging her.

"You're alive!" Margo and Edith echoed together, hugging enthusiastically.

"Of course I'm alive!" Ripley grouched, falling back into her pissy teenager act. "What? Do you think I'm some freaking zombie or something? Cause last time I checked, I'm not _rotting._"

Then she felt another pair of arms join the hug, it was Mr. Gru.

Ripley willed herself not to cry, it was not the time or place and Margo, Edith and Mr. Gru already looked like they'd had that covered.

So Ripley simply rolled her eyes and said, "so can I go inside or do I just stand in the rain _all_ freaking night?"

Margo's eyes just crinkled a little as she hugged the teen tighter, "it's good to have you back Ripley."

Then they all went inside, and Mr. Gru told Ripley how he'd decided to re-adopt them, if she wanted. Ripley agreed, though she never gave much of a reason as to why, as Margo had partially done.

Agnes was especially happy, the whole family was back together, what more could they need?

"Jsem nekonecne lito, Ripley." Mr. Gru spoke to the teen as she moved past him, causing her to freeze for a moment.

"Je me lito taky." Ripley mumbled out in a surprised tone, her half-covered face still not meeting his eyes. "Za to, co jsem rekl predtim, je me lito." Then Ripley went to change out of her rain-soaked clothes.

After that, the five of them all sat down to several mugs of hot chocolate…

To which Ripley could not restrain herself from indulging in…

All Ripley could say was, "what? A girl can't have a sweet tooth? Don't judge me!"

The teen repressed a wince as her healing wound protested once again.

Then they all laughed.

And Mr. Gru smiled at his girls, his new family…

Yes, on this day, even he dared to be happy…

* * *

A/N: Wow. 12 FLIPPIN' PAGES! It was the dialogue that took the longest and boy was it fun! Yep! Kazimir will show up in other chaps, though not consistently. AND SO ENDS ARC 1! Tune in next time for even more adventure! REVIEW and tell me what you guys think! Oh yeah and in particular, tell me, what do you guys think of Kazimir? Note that he is very moody, and probably psychotic, but he's lovable anyways! So NO FLAMES! REVIEWZ ONLY!


	11. It's Got to Be the Vicodin

Despicably Me

Disclaimer: I own nothing, if I did I'd have actual money in my pocket…

A/N: Okay, I'm writing this while in school instead of sketching Ripley's future equipment, because sketching a Glock 17 in school is considered dangerous. Hell, if I even HAD a gun(or a license or anywhere that would let someone my age purchase one), I'd be more likely to shoot myself in the foot or leg than anyone else, not that I would, my conscience wouldn't be able to handle the conflict... I don't get it, boys talk about shotguns and shit like that and in front of the teacher and don't get in trouble, but then I find a 'How to draw and Glock 17' guide and start drawing on a piece of blank paper and suddenly it's a freaking crime. Fucking 'tards… Grumbles… Anyways, please enjoy this chapter, after this I need to finish my science fair… REVIEW PLZ! =) MERRY CHRISTMAS everybody!

**EDIT:** I enriched the story, plus added a little more detail at the end if you go check it. Yeah, enjoy the enrichment! WEEEEEEEE!

* * *

Chapter 10: It's Got to Be the Vicodin

It had been a day, a whole day since Gru had gotten the girls back before he left to re-adopt them. Ms. Hattie was… Uncooperative, to say the least, but in the end with some teeth-grindingly and ego-bruisingly humble apologies, Gru had the girls back.

For good this time.

The bald villain was only halfway home, when he remembered to ask Ripley how she survived, seeing as she didn't volunteer the information. Gru honestly wondered at how she'd fallen and remained relatively unharmed.

Yup, he was definitely curious now…

OOOOO

_With the Girls…_

Back at the house, the oldest girl was oddly quiet, but her adopted-sisters didn't mind at all in fact Agnes was currently clinging to the teen's leg like a baby koala. They all sat in their old room, which had been their shared bedroom for a little over a month, before Gru had given them away that was…

And for what felt like the first time again, they began to talk.

"Geez," Ripley breathed out while rolling her eyes, "do you stick to everything?"

"Yes, yes she does." Margo said.

"Watch it, Specs." Ripley said playfully.

"Smile Ripley!" Agnes giggled giddily, "we're home!"

"Sure kid, sure…" Ripley's voice trailed off thoughtfully, vaguely the one-eyed teen wondered what would happen now.

"What's wrong?" Edith asked plainly, staring up at Ripley as the teen plopped down into her own bomb bed.

"Nothing whatsoever." Ripley defended with a smirk.

Margo sighed, she knew that she wouldn't be getting anything out of Ripley so soon, though the brunette could've sword that she saw Ripley slipping herself some sort of pill as they were getting ready for bed.

Gru hadn't come back yet, but the girls were sure that he would show up into time to tuck them in like he had the night before.

Margo watched her little sisters climb into bed, and Ripley simply laid still in hers, staring up at the ceiling with a contemplating look.

"Mister Gru loves us." Agnes said suddenly, dreamily as she clutched her unicorn plushie.

Ripley tried to repress the sarcastic snort, which didn't make it by Margo or Edith. Ripley mentally berated herself as Margo was looking at her pointedly.

A soft deep breathing indicated that Agnes had finally fallen asleep, though the little girl had vowed to stay awake 'til Mr. Gru got home.

Ripley desperately searched for her retorts and responses to whatever the younger girls could throw at her, she did NOT need this today.

"What was that about?" Margo asked, sounding almost like a mother.

"Aren't you happy too?" Edith asked at the exact same time, sounding curious.

"Nothing, and sure, I'm… Happy…" Ripley mentally kicked herself for the weak response, she was just far too tired to function in her proper, confident, badass attitude.

"You don't sound happy." Edith pointed out.

"I said that I'm happy," Ripley groused as she shifted beneath her blanket tiredly, so oddly comfortable, "leave it."

"How did you survive?" Margo asked, dropping the previous subject, though she intended to bring it up again.

"A guy owed me a favor." Ripley said, not exactly lying.

"Yeah but how?" Edith questioned, scratching an itch on her cheek.

"A faulty jet pack." Ripley deadpanned.

"No seriously." Margo responded.

"I thought we were talking about our lives here not Harry Potter." Ripley joked.

"Ripley!" Margo threw a pillow at the teen's face, "you know what I mean!"

"Bottom line, we're all alive and you guys haven't been separated, and we're not stuck with Miss Hattie. I say it's been a good day." Ripley said with a fox-like grin.

"Yeah!" Edith cheered a little as she sat up in her bomb bed, "we're back, and I love it here it's so cool!"

Ripley's expression darkened a bit at the 'L' word.

"What is your problem?" Margo still felt… Raw… From being sent back, abandoned again… She was unable to stop the impulsive words from coming out of her mouth, "why whenever we talk about attachment to places or people you clam up faster than a turtle to its shell?"

"I have lots of problems Specs," Ripley sighed tiredly, rubbing her eye, "you should know that by now."

"You always say that," Margo retorted, "'I have problems,' it's your excuse for everything!"

"Why are you chewing me out _now_?" Ripley sighed exhaustedly.

"Because," Margo said, "you always hedge the conversation, you always cut it off before we actually get to hear about what's bothering _you. _It's fine when we talk about us, but not when we talk about you."

"What do you want to hear, that everything will be sunshine and daisies from now on?" Ripley was far too exhausted to put any ire into her tone.

"No, I know things will never be perfect," Margo deflated a little, "but can't you at least talk to us?"

Ripley remained silent for a few moments, those moments stretching into minutes.

Margo sighed belatedly, and turned over to face the wall…

Edith stayed uncharacteristically silent, but then spoke up, voice full of conviction, "my Dad abandoned us."

"Hm?" Ripley, half-asleep or not, could still distinguish the young blonde's words through the haze of exhaustion that loomed over her mind.

"He married Agnes and Margo's mom, she died, and then he left us at a store, we don't know why." Edith said, a little louder that time.

Margo shot Edith a look of surprise, she never expected Edith to say _that._ But she could see what Edith was doing, offering an exchange. Margo felt a stab of pride for her younger sister,

"What?" Edith scowled a little indignantly, "it's true."

A new kind of silence fell upon the room that time, tension could be felt as it filled the air, following Edith's confession.

But Ripley… Could see the concession that was made and…

"My Mother stranded me somewhere on a deserted highway in Nebraska when I was around nine." Ripley had originally wanted to say something about her Mother always hating her, but the words just… Slipped out…

'_Fuck.'_ The teen cursed and kicked herself inwardly.

"Really?" Margo heard herself saying before she could really think about what she was saying, "how'd you end up in Ohio, here, then?"

"Yeah!" Edith chimed in, just as curiously as Margo.

"Walking, lots of walking…" Ripley suddenly was thankful that she only said the _edited_ version of her abandonment, leaving out the fact that her Mother had shot her first, _then_ left her to die in a ditch.

"You really walked the whole way?" Margo remarked incredulously.

"Well, I did catch a bus after I finally hit town…" Ripley offered with a small grin, trying _not _to remember the four dead bodies she left behind in the town of her self-dubbed namesake.

"How'd you end up in at the Orphanage then?"Margo asked, her curiosity growing.

"Some nosy lady wouldn't leave me alone while I was getting a sandwich," Ripley huffed dramatically, smiling a little, "but I guess, in a way, I'm glad for it."

"Why?" Edith asked, her face screwing up in confusion, because really, who would ever be _glad _to go to 'Miss Hattie's Home for Girls'?

"I got to meet you three didn't I?" Ripley said, a little softness creeping into her voice.

"Yeah, you did, didn't you?" Margo said as she laid back, staring at the ceiling.

"What are we gonna do tomorrow?" Edith asked, yawning tiredly.

"One day at a time," Ripley said calmly, smiling a little, re-adjusting her beanie and bandanna, yes she slept with it on, "a very wise person once told me that."

"Who?" Edith asked sleepily as she had begun to drift off.

Margo was almost asleep…

'_My big brother, Kaz…'_ Ripley mouthed the words into the darkness as her adopted sisters' breathing evened out to her sensitive hearing.

Then the door opened, revealing Mr. Gru followed by his 'dog', Kyle.

Edith sprung out of bed, instantly awake.

"Mr. Gru!" Edith's voice carried throughout the entire room, waking up Agnes and Margo up almost simultaneously.

Edith and Agnes crowded around him excitedly, yes he was home. Margo was sitting up in her bombshell bed, smiling.

Ripley held herself back, preferring the background, but she did let a small smile creep onto her expression as Margo stood up too.

Edith and Agnes were, to say the least exuberant as only small children could be. Margo smiled again and put on her glasses as her two younger sisters asked Mr. Gru for a bedtime story, despite the late hour.

"Okay gurls, time for bed." Mr. Gru said as he tried to herd the girls back towards their beds.

"Aw come on," Edith said, looking up at Mr. Gru, "we want a story."

"Three Sleepy Kittens!" Agnes exclaimed excitedly.

"Oh no sorry," Mr. Gru seemed to smirk a little as he spoke, "dat, dat book was accidentally destroyed maliciously."

Kyle seemed to sigh at that, if dogs, or whatever the hell he was, could sigh.

"Tonight," Gru brandished a new book, "we are going to read a new book. Dees one ees called 'One Beeg Uneecorn." Mr. Gru sat down in front of the girls, a little farther back, including Ripley too.

Ripley tried to tell herself that she was too old for bedtime stories, that she didn't _need_ to be included… But…

"By, who wrote dis," Mr. Gru turned the book to look at the page cover. "Oh! Me, I wrote eet, oh and look, eet's a puppet book, here watch dees." He winked at the four of them and bent, then came up again.

His long nose was the unicorn horn.

The four girls laughed, Ripley settled for stifling her giggles… It looked, hilarious…

"This is gonna be the best book ever!" Agnes exclaimed softly from her bombshell bed.

"Not to pat myself on de back," Mr. Gru scooted a little on his seat, "but yes, eet probably will be."

'_Damn mush,'_ Ripley thought half-heartedly, _'making me want to melt and go flippin' marshmallow-y…'_

"Here we go…" Mr. Gru began to read the book aloud, showing the girls, even Ripley who _tried_ to look uninterested, the pictures.

Around the time Edith pointed out that the pink kitten looked like her, Ripley wondered how Gru had gotten the book done so fast, sure the art wasn't the 'best' but it was very good as a children's book…

'_Oh right,'_ Ripley thought with a sort of mental 'duh', _'villain.'_

Towards the end, Ripley snorted, of course the similarities between the fictional depictions and real life were _coincidental_.

"-Four leetle keetens, who changed 'is heart…" Gru finished, Ripley honestly had only been half-listening… She had, albeit a little guiltily, compared it to the few times Kazimir had read her a bedtime story…

The 'Brothers Grimm Fairytales'… Man were those some fucked up stories…

Ripley finally came to a decision, no, Mr. Gru couldn't replace Kazimir, the thought of anyone replacing Kaz in her life was laughable. But, Ripley supposed that, with time, Mr. Gru would fill the shoes of a parent Ripley had never even met…

Maybe…

Mr. Gru moved to leave the room, the turned back to Agnes and Edith who were looked to be asleep but weren't that far yet, and the bald man kissed their foreheads…

Mr. Gru was about to do the same for Margo, but then she sort of stood up, and hugged their adoptive Father around the neck.

Ripley could distinctive mumble of "I love you…" From, miss suspicious herself, Margo of all people…

"I love you too." Mr. Gru mumbled quietly, as he hugged her with one arm…

'_Oh shit,'_ thought Ripley nervously, _'I'm next!'_

Ripley adjusted her bandanna and beanie self-consciously, she'd had enough emotional turmoil today, she wasn't sure she'd be able to take anymore without bursting into girly tears…

The way her bombshell bed was placed, she couldn't face away from him without giving him access to the right side of her face, which she kept covered for a reason!

Note, if she was ever questioned about it, Ripley would deny vehemently. She was NOT self-conscious damnit!

Quietly, she turned over, facing away from the wall, the right side of her face buried into the pillow…

Maybe he would just leave-

Mr. Gru kissed her forehead too…

'_Don't flip, don't flip,'_ Ripley reminded herself in an almost mantra, _'it's just the vicodin, it's making you over-emotional.'_

"Goodnight gurls…" Mr. Gru whispered softly, as he closed the door gently…

It hurt but she felt so happy too… Joyful perhaps…

Wait… Tears?

'_It's the damn vicodin,'_ Ripley felt her singular, blue eye water some more, _'stupid vicodin…'_

But just as she had begun to drift off, Ripley could almost make out the silent sobs of Margo… And it occurred to the teen that the 'L bomb' wasn't dropped often…

Ripley knew that, as far as explanations went, Mr. Gru was not off the hook yet, as far as Ripley herself and Margo were concerned. Well, more of Margo's case really, Ripley knew that the bespectacled brunette would want a better explanation than what the teen assumed was only the basic summary.

But… Maybe it would be okay, maybe…

A tear fell…

'_Damn vicodin…'_ Ripley excused herself mentally, brushing it off as a reaction to the medication, even though deep down she knew better…

But eventually, the teen fell asleep right after Margo had… Drifting off into dreamland, safe, at home…

* * *

A/N: Whew! Finally! I've been trying to get this one out for ages! Yeah, sorry I took so long, Merry Christmas ya'll! I'll do Christmas or something either somewhere in this arc or the next, so please try to be patient with me. Thanks for your wonderful patience, and faith my faithful reviewers. I finally fixed my laptop's firewall! Again, Merry Christmas! And if I don't update again by then, Happy New Year too! Yes, Ripley's having an emotional moment, so is Margo in a way. Ripley is less expressive and more reserved, but the painkillers Kaz gave her are making her slightly high so her emotions are closer to the surface than they usually are. But as you can see, that shell's cracking, little by little. The same goes for Margo, though her shell is not nearly as thick as Ripley's for several reasons you guys can figure out on your own. Okay, I'm going to sleep now… But before I do…

**Other/Edit A/N:** If anyone suggests Pedophilia, I promise to find out where you live, and I'll send my muses and my many OC's from other stories to smack the freaking-stupid right out of you! Yeah, I added a few other things, this is an edit, I'm enriching the story, enjoy the enrichment!

REVIEW! Tell me what you think!


	12. Ice Cream and Changes

Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own Gru, the girls, or anybody for that matter, except for my OC's and the non-canon plot deviation.

A/N: Yes, I'm back, and I finally finished my History Fair paper, yeah just in time too. (Breathes a sigh of relief) Anyways, here is chapter eleven! Finally! Yep, here starts the new story arc! The last chapter was actually part of the first story arc(the one set during the movie) as a sort of wrap-up chapter, now onto the arc! REVIEW please! =)

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Chapter 11: Ice Cream and Changes

Gru had left the girls in their room that night, silent about the conversation that he'd 'accidentally' overheard. Well, he was a villain, by description, eavesdropping was not below him at _all_.

All of them had been abandoned at some point in their lives, and the villain could only wonder about the details. He knew from dealing with people, as awkward as he was with children, he wanted to do good by his daughters.

A mere day after re-adopting them, Mr. Gru had brought the girls back to the community center where the recital had been…

He got to watch his girls dance, well, minus Ripley of course, the teen said that, 'she didn't do ballet.'

Somehow, Gru _and_ Ripley had been dragged onto the stage, though Ripley somehow found a back corner that no-one noticed until it was time to leave. She watched her new family dance together with a bit of an odd expression adorning her half-hidden features…

The four girls also learned that Mr. Gru could dance disco, who'd have thought?

Ripley mentally catalogued that information for later, when she could hack a system and find files. She was still taking the vicodin from Kaz, but she was wide awake now, she would not give in to her emotional turmoil.

The teen honestly hated moments like these, not ones that she was spending with her new… Family… But moments when she dwelt upon her own problems…

Another small tug in her chest, somewhere deep inside, there was still that part of her that never stopped thinking…

"Ripley!" Margo's voice seemed to snap the teen out of her thoughts, gaining the thirteen-year old's attention.

"Eet's time to go!" Mr. Gru called after her.

Ripley hopped off the stage, and walked quickly after them through the crowd of minions...

"Yes Old M-" Though no-one heard her, she cut herself off anyways, "yes sir."

She wouldn't fail her… Sisters? Friends? Unofficial charges?

It was _her _fault, most likely, after all. So Ripley decided to be more… Polite, agreeable… The teen did not want to ruin what was likely their _only_ second chance after all…

Ripley remembered very little of the drive home, simply going over her many previous adoption experiences… Of all of them she'd never been re-adopted before, Ripley found herself at a loss…

Treading a thin line, like back with her Mother, one mistake could cost everything one breath out of line…

'_I will not screw this up…'_ Thought Ripley as she began digging out every experience and behavioral expectation that all her former adoptive parents had wanted in a child.

Polite, agreeable, don't speak unless spoken to, stay out of the way, do chores when needed…

'_Oh God,'_ Ripley thought nervously, _'make a complete one-eighty in five minutes, how the hell am I gonna pull this off?'_

She watched her second-time adoptive Father pensively as he drove the tank, and Agnes asked him all sorts of pointless questions…

Then Ripley noticed Margo staring at her, Ripley raised an eyebrow at the ten-year old questioningly…

Margo clearly wanted to ask, but remained silent, as Ripley had, before soon joining her sisters as the exited the tank and walked into the house…

Ripley heart hammered, walking into that house again, why did it feel like back when she was trying to prove to her Mother that she wasn't a lost cause as an agent? Back in the days when impressing her would have been the true start of her career?

Back in the days where killing people when you were told was all she wanted to do well, so that her Mother would love her…

Ripley barely repressed the bitter laugh from escaping, like hell that harpy would have ever cared about her.

Now she had to be a good kid, a not be an unnecessary burden, lest she screw up the last chance that she knew this was…

And yet she found herself wondering, when Mr. Gru would tire of them. The novelty of having kids, when would he grow bored and irritated with four girls underfoot thrust into his life?

Why the hell had the Villain taken them back?

Margo, Edith and Agnes were more understandable, if anybody was adorable enough to re-adopt or have second thoughts about abandoning , it was them.

Ripley herself? A bitchy, headstrong, independent-minded teen with more morbid thoughts than a fly population on a garbage barge? She was probably the worst candidate for adoption, yet…

Mr. Gru was keeping her too?

'_What __**is**__ he playing at?'_ Ripley wondered quietly.

Margo, Edith and yes, even Agnes were still a bit wary, but none the less seemed content with how things were. But for the life of her Ripley just couldn't let the thoughts go, what if he was just manipulating them? What if-?

Ripley shook her head slightly, as if trying to shake off the unpleasant thoughts, with little success. She couldn't screw it up, lie or not, the teen knew that she had no more chances after this. There would be no more second chances like this one, not ever…

So Ripley in turn, decided to trail after her new sisters, like always…

She could _do_ this…

Whatever Mr. Gru could throw at her, she would take in stride and perhaps grow a little

OOOOO

Gru was content, pure and simple. He had his girls back, and they were happy, much to his joy.

Two weeks, taking care of children was tiring business, sometimes Gru wondered if he'd always be able to keep up…

He had narrowly avoided prison, again, because of the matter of landing his rocket in a street and the cost of the damages. Luckily, NASA had gotten interested by his homemade rocket, and bought it, no hassles. Despite the sting to Gru's pride that he had to sell the rights to it as well, it was worth it to keep his girls.

Breakfast was always interesting, getting their pancakes into those amazing shapes made them smile.

But he couldn't help but shake the feeling that his eldest was… Too quiet…

Since coming back, she hadn't yelled, thrown anything, or called him 'Old Man' like she had the entire time before he'd sent the girls back to the orphanage. Ripley hadn't argued with him or made a single smartass yet playful comment since she's entered the house to live there again.

Gru knew that teens, compared to children, were a whole different ball game. He also knew that, most likely, he was still not the best at the parenting thing, it's not like he had been given a wonderful example to follow himself…

He didn't know what to do really, with Ripley or Margo. Though Margo was slightly easier, he found that the ten-year old loved books, he'd shown her his bookshelves… After removing a good many of the more… Inappropriate texts from them...

Edith and Agnes preferred playing outside, Margo would watch and more often than not end up joining them. Ripley remained content to watch, remain silent, and then follow the three when they moved across the playground.

Gru found that, he had no idea on how to approach the teen… So, while the girls played, and Margo read, well out of earshot…

"Vhy so quiet?" Gru asked the teen.

"'M always quiet."Ripley didn't look away from Margo, Edith and Agnes, then as an afterthought, she added, "sir."

"No you're nawt," Gru said sighed, "and what's weeth dis 'sir' beezness?"

Ripley forced her muscles not to stiffen, no she would not fall into that trap again. Thirteenth adoption, world of hurt, end of story.

"Just being respectful of my elders sir." Ripley answered with a logical tone.

"We all have a free day," Gru offered with an awkward smile, "what do you vant to do?"

"Whatever they want," Ripley answered, almost sounding a little, bitter, "is good enough for me, I'm quite content with what I've been given, sir."

Gru had been about to respond, but Agnes and Edith had quickly appeared to drag Ripley and Gru into their game of tag.

Ripley breathed a mental sigh of relief, _'crisis averted.'_ She thought quietly.

But Gru mentally vowed that they'd finish this conversation later…

OOOOO

The girls had wanted ice cream, and Agnes's adorability was irresistible, Mr. Gru had driven them to the ice cream parlor.

It was wonderful, yet awkward.

Gru found that, dealing with Agnes or Edith was much easier than Margo or Ripley.

"Why?" Margo asked suddenly.

"Why what?" Gru asked back.

"Why did you give us up?" Margo asked in an almost-strained voice.

Ripley remained, passive. This was not the kind of conversation she could participate in, false-nicities, yes, deep-rooted conversations that could end up with her having an emotional breakdown? Hell no.

"I," Gru paused, at a loss for words, "deedn't mean to…"

"But-" Margo started before cutting herself off.

"When Miss Hattie came to get us," Edith interjected, "you let her take us."

"Why didn't you want us Mister Gru?" Agnes asked, with those adorable puppy eyes.

Ripley continued to spoon chocolate ice cream into her mouth leisurely.

"Dat's not true, I," Gru paused again, his eyes flickering over the four girls who'd wormed their way into his life, "when you were, sent back. I felt…"

"Felt what?" Edith asked somewhat .

"Sad." Gru

"But we're all together now, Mr. Gru!" Agnes piped up, before abandoning her ice cream in favor of hopping out of her chair and clinging to Mr. Gru's right leg.

"Yes, yes we are…" Gru said half to himself as Edith and Agnes got distracted by a colorful toy store from acoss the street.

He watched as his two eldest gazed at the store as well, as Edith and Agnes pulled them all towards the store.

He honestly didn't want to go into that… Brat-playland of a store, but…

The looks on his girls' faces, happiness, joy. He decided it was worth it, even as Agnes badgered the clerk for unicorn toys to pile in his arms…

Parenting was… Unfamiliar to him, to say the least, and Gru often found himself making it up as he went along, and just when he thought he had it down... His girls would do something completely new, forcing him to adapt once again, and he'd barely just gotten them back.

Margo was still a little mistrustful, far more intelligent than most people gave her credit for… But she had fallen in love with the vast amount of books the Gru had at home, but she was relaxing into their new lives as well. Edith was a little spitfire, headstrong and surprisingly devious when she wanted to be. Agnes was the sweetness, utter trust that made Gru almost afraid that he'd unintentionally break it.

He'd never cared about such things before, he'd never cared for people as much as he cared for his girls…

Speaking of, Gru then wondered where Ripley had gone, it seemed as if the wayward teen had completely disappeared…

Stifling the urge to panic and jump to conclusions, after all it had only been weeks since his daughters kidnapping.

He walked towards the front of the store, and breathed out a silent sigh of relief as he saw a quiet Ripley sitting next to a very large, fluffy teddy bear display near the cash registers.

"Ripley, you are not lookeeng weeth your seesters?" Gru spoke down to the teen, his other three girls still within his sight.

"I don't need toys." The stoic teen re-adjusted her bandanna absently.

"Not eeven dee games dat Edith says joo like so mauch?" Gru prodded, he was determined to finish conversation, Ripley was not like this.

"You're already keeping us, feeding us and putting a roof over our heads," Ripley stated, looking up at her adoptive Father with a dull, blue eye, "I don't need any more."

"So you don't vant anyteeng." Gru said incredulously, clearly not believing the teen.

"I've got enough, really," Ripley said, grinning lightly before adding as an afterthought, "sir."

"And what's weeth dis 'sor' beezness?" Gru said, "vhat happened to 'old man'?"

"You didn't appreciate it before, so I gotta call you something else." Ripley explained, her eye staring up at Gru. _'Keep it together Ripley, you can do this, for Margo, Edith and Agnes… For them, you can keep it together…'_

Ripley steeled her will, she would not condemn them, she would not be a failure today.

"I don't really mind, joo know?" Gru sighed, teenagers were confusing, "just enough weeth dee 'sir' t'ing, okay?'

"Uh, sure, sure, okay," Ripley sounded, taken aback, before recovered her composure once more, "sure thing."

Suddenly, Agnes called for Gru, wanting him to get an even larger unicorn plushie down from a shelf for her.

Ripley expected him to simply walk away, content with the new understanding they'd reached.

"Ripley," Gru watched as the teen swiveled her visible eye towards him suddenly, "joo can 'ave as many toys or games as joo want, I mean eet." Then he proceeded to assist both Agnes and Edith get things down from the higher shelves…

"_You can have as many toys as you want dearie." _

Those words, so like one of her previous adoptive parents, you can have as much as you want, what a beautiful lie.

Ripley wouldn't believe it, those words, they always had a double meaning, leading you to believe that you can ask for everything, from material possessions to someone's time or emotional investment, only to find that everyone's gets angry when you ask for too much.

Ripley had done her best in so many tries, be the perfect child, something no-one wants to give up, how did that serve Ripley? Too greedy, too aloof, too clingy, she failed, every. Single. Fucking. Time.

Which only further solidified the fact in Ripley's mind, that even if Mr. Gru wasn't consciously looking for flaws, subconsciously, he must be.

How many slip-ups could Ripley afford? She'd already misjudged how she was to address him, she was sure that he would prefer a respectful address, rather than a more, familiar one. How long would it be until Ripley _really_ fucked things up? Ruined all her chances, and possibly Margo, Edith and Agnes's?

How long would this farce last? How long before…

'_Oh my God,'_ Ripley was suddenly aware of the wateriness in her eye, and swiped at it angrily, _'I can't fall apart, keep it together damn you!'_

Then there was the possibility that Mr. Gru was sincere, the possibility hurt in more ways than one. If he _was _sincere, that meant that he viewed her as fucking, _normal. _Then later he'd figure out how fucked up Ripley really was, then she'd be back in that hellhole of an orphanage, again.

Oh Ripley wouldn't even make it back to the Orphanage, she promised to finish what she'd almost done back in the backstage closet of the community center, just before Vector had kidnapped her and her new sisters.

Ripley then realized that she had to at least get something, so she wouldn't insult the generosity that Mr. Gru was showing her. Something big enough to look good, but still cheap enough to not be missed.

She picked a cheap art set, it came with a black sketchpad, three pencils, an eraser, and six colored pencils.

Compared to the six unicorns, two game consoles, lots of videogames, books and other odds and ends, it was hardly noticed.

'_Shit my ribs hurt…'_ But, she refused to take another vicodin, even if it was time to take another one, she'd definitely fall apart if she did.

Something in Ripley really longed to take Mr. Gru's word at face value, but…

"Come on Ripley!" Margo's voice pulled the teen's attention away from her aching ribs, "hurry up!"

"I'm going, I'm going, keep your shorts on!" Ripley answered characteristically.

"Ees everyone here?" Mr. Gru asked the girls as they buckled themselves in.

"Yep." The four chorused.

No, Ripley would not take a chance, it just wasn't in her nature. Not with something like this at stake…

Honest to God, Ripley couldn't let this go…

It was a trick, it wasn't real, maybe she was already dead and this was some sort of twisted heaven created to taunt her with her own paranoia…

But for tonight, she settled for letting Edith beat her at 'Marvel vs. Capcom', discreetly of course, on the new Xbox, while Mr. Gru had conceded to Agnes's Unicorn adventure…

Agnes's laughter, Margo's soft smile, Edith's determined smirk… Oh God she couldn't do this…

"Edith, play alone for a bit," Ripley got up suddenly, before calling over her shoulder, "nature calls!"

The one-eyed teen then proceeded down the hall, and upon entering the bathroom, locked the door behind her. There, she proceeded to vomit her stomach's contents into the sink, it tasted horrible and made her throat feel terribly raw afterwards…

Ripley then looked at herself in the mirror, and thought, _'shit I need sleep.'_

Her eye was on the verge of developing dark circles and for the life of her, she could bring herself to smile or grin to at least keep up appearances…

Hell, was she starting tearing up?

The act she'd been thriving on for years was coming apart, in pieces.

Sad thing was, Ripley didn't even know why it hurt anymore. Everything seemed to hurt now, just simply watching Gru interact with them was a reminder of what she'd always wanted at her… Sisters' ages…

No it was a lie, a farce, or at least only temporary… Borrowed time, like always…

Everything was changing, and Ripley just couldn't be sure if it was for better or for worse. It was odd enough that the villain, Gru, had taken them all back in the first place.

'_I mean, seriously,'_ thought Ripley as she washed out her mouth with tap water, _'who adopts FOUR girls for keeps?'_

Then it occurred to her once more, that little hopeful thought that Ripley should've quashed before it even came into being, lest it get her hopes up…

Adults could not be trusted, they always lied to you, backstabbed you in some of the worst ways possible, made millions of empty promises, abandoned you, broke your heart…

Ripley knew how this would go, things would be great for a while, all happy daisies and peachy-keen days. Then everything will either descend into complete crap or something will happen and everyone will be back to where they started…

And once again, Ripley could just feel the utter exhaustion settling heavy in her limbs, as she swiped away the moistness that threatened to spill over her eyelid. She was so tired of the emotional upheaval, emotions were messy business…

Then another question came forefront to Ripley's mind, _'can you just let yourself be happy?'_

Happy? Happy about what? The fact that the warmth, even the care, fake or not, was going to end all too quickly? That every kind word her soul longed for was going to turn out to be nothing but an inevitable lie?

And if it wasn't… Well, Ripley had no contingency plans for when her life wasn't burning in a giant flaming pyre of miserable shit.

But Ripley knew that everything was changing, that was the only thing she was really sure of at the moment…

She just wasn't sure if her sanity would survive it…

None the less, about six minutes later, Ripley rejoined her sisters in the living room, her composure regained once more…

'_I really hope that these emotional breakdowns won't become a habit…'_ Ripley thought quietly as she let Edith win by a hair once again.

"You were gone an awfool long time Reepley," Gru commented with a hint of… worry? "Are you alright?"

"I'm good, I'm good," Ripley found herself grinning convincingly, a reflex she'd always found to be like second nature to her, _'familiar address'_, Ripley reminded herself before adding, "don't be such a worrywart Old Man."

"I am not old!" Gru smiled though, which kept Ripley from panicking over verbally overstepping boundaries again.

"Suuuuuuuuuure you aren't." Ripley answered back good-naturedly.

"Are you sure dat joo are alright?"

"Of course," Ripley lied straight through her teeth with a calm-yet-cheery expression, "I've never been happier or more peaceful."

Gru seemed to be convinced, and Ripley mentally congratulated herself for another crisis averted and a job well done…

In truth though, throughout the entirety of her thirteen year lifespan, Ripley had never felt more conflicted…

And then she shivered lightly, as she realized that she would have to do this… Happy, polite, yet somewhat-snarky as to not raise suspicion, thing every, single, day…

Her ribs then picked that very moments to throb painfully as Edith tackled her playfully…

'_Shit, I need vicodin…'_

* * *

**A/N:** As you guys can see Ripley is really conflicted right now. So far, all the adults in her life have failed her, abandoned her, treated her like crap, or made promises that they never intended to keep, so she has no real concept of happiness, or joy which is long-lasting. Ripley is like an emotional volcano waiting to explode basically. She's also afraid of pulling Margo, Edith and Agnes down with her, and she's actually a little peeved that they've become so important to her actually. Eventually, that strong-façade will crumble, or shatter, and when it does you guys better believe that there'll be fireworks. Ripley is simply having trouble believing that Gru is sincere about keeping them, herself included. Remember that Ripley was sent back many times for a plethora of reasons, some of them were actually very shallow reasons, some were just cases of bad luck or bad timing… But yeah, I'm going to focus on the other girls too, don't you worry.

Also, as you will notice, Gru isn't completely buying Ripley's polite-act, he knows something's bugging her but he's trying to dig without being to invasive. Unfortunately, Ripley also has a habit of modifying her acts to convince different people, so some/oftentimes Gru will believe her. As well as the fact that Gru is trying to get the hang of the parenting thing, and there will be more bumps and potholes in the road than he'll really care for, but he's learning.

Margo is perfectly aware that Ripley can act like no-one else's business and can lie through her teeth, and often offers some of the only emotional support that the teen will accept, along with Edith and Agnes. Margo is far more emotionally grounded than Ripley is, therefore more stable. I'm not saying that Margo doesn't have her issues, such as trust among others, but she helps Ripley stay grounded when she can. Though Margo is NOT aware of Ripley's emotional breakdownS, YET.

**PLEASE REVIEW!** I love you all, sorry for making you guys wait! Tell me what you think please! Constructive criticism is preferable, NO FLAMES!


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